‘It Is a Reality’: Morning Joe Wearily Admits That ‘Even Democrats’ Have Real Concerns About Biden’s Age
A recent AP-NORC poll found that 77% of the respondents believe President Joe Biden is too old to serve another four years, while 51% believe the same of former President Donald Trump.
Morning co-host Willie Geist mentioned the poll Tuesday morning in a segment discussing Biden’s age, noting, “President Biden showing his age is a significant concern for voters ahead of the 2024 election, including among Democrats. By the way, a new AP NORC poll finds that more than three-quarters of Americans think Biden, who was 80, is too old to serve another term, 77% of them. Donald Trump is just three years younger than Biden, but only 51% of Americans say he is too old to be effective in a second term.”
“Broken down by party. 89% of Republicans say Biden is too old. 69% of Democrats say he’s too old, and 74% of independents say the same. In contrast, only 28% of Republicans say Trump is too old versus 71% of Democrats and about half of all independents,” Geist added before tossing to frequent contributor Eugene Robinson, saying, “This is something that the White House, the Biden campaign cannot avoid. It is a reality. It might be uncomfortable for some people to talk about, but when you have private dinner parties, when you go out and at the ice cream place in the summer, people do. Even Democrats who like Joe Biden and plan to support him, they do have concerns about his age.”
“Yes, they do. And it’s just it’s just a fact that they have to deal with,” Robinson replied. “I mean, the fact also is that those Democrats, I think, are highly unlikely to say, okay, he’s too old, I’ll vote for Donald Trump. All right. They’re trying to do that. And indeed, if it is a Trump-Biden rematch, I think it’s very likely that the main question will be Donald Trump. It’s a stark, you know, binary choice.”
“If you want four more years of Biden and you want four more years of Trump. And so I think the Biden camp is, you know, fairly confident on that score that that that’s how it’s going to come down,” Robinson added. “But it is it is a problem. And it is ironic. He’s only three years older than Donald Trump. He is visibly in better physical shape than Donald Trump.”
“As much as they don’t like talking publicly, they know the president’s age is an issue and a real one. They understand that’s a legitimate concern for voters,” Jonathan Lemire added before pivoting to what many Democrats feel is the best argument for a Biden second term. “That said, they believe that if it’s a head to head, especially with Donald Trump, that the questions of the president’s age will be outweighed by other matters, that it simply won’t be as important. Now, they do think that the calculation would change somewhat, at least if somehow a Republican not named Donald Trump ended up being atop the ticket.”
Watch above via MSNBC.
