Democrats bungle Biden age concerns

Joe Biden’s advisers knew in 2020 that his age was an issue for Americans but they successfully painted him as a competent leader who would restore normalcy to the White House after Donald Trump’s chaotic presidency. Now that Biden is 81, opinion polls show age is even more of a concern for voters ahead of November’s election.

In office, Biden’s gait has stiffened, he is slower on his feet and he regularly makes verbal mix-ups during speeches, at times confusing the names of world leaders. He has presided over a growing economy and some foreign leaders have said after meeting him that he is sharp and focused in private meetings, but the age issue is still a drag on his poll numbers.

When a special counsel last week released a report declining to charge Biden of mishandling classified information but criticising his memory, Republicans in the House of Representatives were quick to call the president, a Democrat, “certainly unfit for the Oval Office.”

In contrast, some political experts say, the White House did not address the accusations quickly or directly enough, or mount a coordinated pushback, at least at first.

“What we’ve seen from this White House is in a lot of ways attempting to do business as usual, to overcome adversity and bad narratives by ignoring them,” said Samuel Woolley, director of the University of Texas at Austin’s propaganda research lab.

A new Reuters/ipsos poll shows that 78 per cent of respondents — including 71 per cent of Democrats — think Biden is too old to work in government. While the White House has struggled in its response to those concerns, a wave of online memes, some based on manipulated images, present the image of the president as a doddering, frail old man.

Mocking Biden’s age, speech patterns and missteps has become a global phenomenon during his three years in office.