Will Joe Biden's age affect his chances as he announces reelection bid for 2024?

Washington’s “worst-kept secret” secret is out. United States president Joe Biden has officially announced his reelection bid for 2024, urging voters to give him a second chance to “finish the job”. The announcement on Tuesday (25 April) made through a pre-recorded video on social media comes four years after he declared his 2020 presidential campaign.

However, the road to remain in the White House for another four years would not be easy for the Democrat leader who will be facing several issues in his bid, one of them being his ripe age. 80-year-old Biden has been targeted for this and his reelection campaign is expected to give the Republicans another chance to highlight the issue.

Let’s take a look at how Biden’s age may become an issue.

Joe Biden announces reelection campaign

The video opens with the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump, as Biden presents a contrast, saying it is his job to defend American democracy.

Referring to abortion bans, attacks on LGBTQ rights, and Social Security threats among other issues, Biden hits out at “MAGA (Make America Great Again) extremists” who are “lining up to take on … bedrock freedoms”.

“When I ran for president four years ago, I said we are in a battle for the soul of America. And we still are. The question we are facing is whether in the years ahead we have more freedom or less freedom. More rights or fewer.”

“I know what I want the answer to be and I think you do too. This is not a time to be complacent. That’s why I’m running for reelection” the US president says in the video.

Is Biden’s age an issue?

Born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, on 20 November 1942, he would be 82 at the time of reelection.

By the time his second term ends, he would be 86 – nine years older than Ronald Reagan when his White House term ended in 1989.

The octogenarian is aware of the concerns regarding his age, which he has called “legitimate”. However, he has rebuffed the questions about whether he would have the stamina for another presidential campaign, saying “watch me,”, reported Associated Press (AP).

Republicans have also spotlighted Biden’s age and are expected to continue raising the issue until the 2024 US presidential elections.

Nikki Haley, who has announced her bid for the Republican presidential nomination, had proposed “mandatory mental competency tests for politicians over 75 years old.” This would not only apply to Biden, but also her Republican rival 76-year-old Trump – who is also running for president.

Notably, Trump was 70 when he was elected to the Oval Office in 2017.

However, this has been countered by the 46th US president’s supporters. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre pointed out earlier about Biden leading the Democrats, to what AP describes as, “surprisingly” strong midterm results.

“Maybe they’re forgetting the wins the president got over the past few years, but I’m happy to remind them anytime,” Jean-Pierre had said in February.

Despite his age, Biden may not have to face much competition within Democrats, who are largely likely to back him.

“The dynamics that made Biden the nominee in the first place, his moderate branding and just-left-enough positioning, still protect him from a consolidated opposition on either flank,” columnist Ross Douthat wrote for The New York Times (NYT). “And he’s benefited from the way that polarisation and anti-Trumpism has delivered a more unified liberalism, suffused by a trust-the-establishment spirit that makes the idea of a primary challenge seem not just dangerous but disreputable.”

What about the voters?

Voters do seem to mind Biden’s age.

Several Democratic voters have opposed the idea of Biden’s reelection, partly owing to his age, as per reports.

A survey conducted by NBC News this week showed that 70 per cent of Americans, including 51 percent of Democrats, do not want Biden to seek reelection.

Seven out of 10 cited his age as a factor as a reason for not wanting Biden to serve another four terms in the White House, says the survey.

Trump, who is widely expected to be the Republican challenging Biden, is more unpopular among voters, with only 35 per cent supporting his run again while 60 per cent are against it, as per the NBC poll.

A recent poll conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Centre for Public Affairs Research shows that only 47 per cent of Democrats want Biden to seek a second term, a rise from 37 per cent in February.

Biden’s overall approval rating is just over 42 per cent, according to a compilation of polls by the political website FiveThirtyEight. This is below than 10 of the last 13 presidents at this juncture of their terms, reported NYT.

Older voters also have mixed reactions to Biden’s reelection bid.

Some surveys have found that older Democratic voters were more likely to back Biden than younger Democrats. But around 30 per cent to 50 per cent of Democrats over 60 years of age preferred him hanging his boots, reported NYT.

“One has to know one’s limitations,” Dr Ruth Westheimer, 94, a famed sex therapist, said.

“I would say the president should run again, but he should also not run up to a podium,” she was quoted as saying by NYT. “I don’t want him to fall.”

Speaking to NYT, 92-year-old former Representative of New York, Charles Rangel, said that “at my age, I don’t buy green bananas”. He hinted he would support Biden’s campaign for reelection, however, adding that he would want to see a new generation of leaders.

“Maybe I’m feeling so strongly because I’m leaving relatively soon and I want to see what’s going to follow,” Rangel was quoted as saying by NYT. “I truly believe that we should have more candidates, more than two old white men.”

Is it just ageism?

Some have argued that Biden’s age may be just an excuse for age discrimination. With better facilities now than before, old people today are “much younger than they used to be, especially when they are wealthy”, noted AP. 

“The frontier of longevity has shifted in a positive way,” Adam Felts, a researcher with the AgeLab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was quoted as saying by Bloomberg.

He said looking at someone like Biden, who has the best medical care available, “we may have to think about his age trajectory differently.”

“Humans tend to overestimate how much people within a given category have in common with one another,” Jessica Nordell, author of The End of Bias, told Bloomberg.

She said that when someone says Biden is “too old”, it reflects their “antipathy” toward older people.

With inputs from agencies

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