Why age is a bigger problem for Biden

Former President Donald Trump has praised Hungary's prime minister, Viktor Orban, for his leadership of Turkey, and confused Nikki Haley and Nancy Pelosi. President Joe Biden has named dead former European leaders when describing his contemporary peers, and referred to Egypt as Mexico.

The episodes might have raised parallel concerns about age and mental acuity. Instead, while Biden, 81, has been increasingly dogged by doubts and concerns about his advancing years, Trump, 77, has not felt the same political blowback.

The response suggests profound differences not only between the two men, but in how they are perceived by the American public, and in what their supporters expect of them — a divide that could play a major role.

In a New York Times/Siena College poll of six battleground states, an overwhelming majority of voters said they had serious concerns about Biden's age.

“Even though we know both candidates are 31/2 years apart, one side seems to have it sticking a little more, and that's going to be a concern,” said Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis.

Some of it comes down to basic physical differences.

Biden's voice has grown softer and raspier, his hair thinner and whiter. He is tall and trim but moves more tentatively than he did as a candidate in 2019 and 2020, often holding his upper body stiff, adding to an impression of frailty. And he has had spills in the public eye.

Trump, by contrast, does not appear to be suffering the effects of time in such visible ways. Trump often dyes his hair and appears unnaturally tan.

He is heavyset and tall, and he uses his physicality to project strength.

When he takes the stage at rallies, he basks in adulation for several minutes, dancing to an opening song, and then holds forth in speeches — replete with macho rhetoric and bombast — that typically last well over an hour, a display of stamina.