Does Joe Biden have the mental fitness to run for US presidential elections in 2024?

The race for American president is hotting up. The field of candidates running for the 2024 presidential elections is growing each day; on Monday morning, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott announced his bid for the Republican presidential nomination and Donald Trump rival and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis will be announcing his run today.

However, it appears that Americans are more concerned about President Joe Biden’s mental fitness and if he has the gumption and capability to run for a second time and govern the nation once again from the White House.

In fact, a new poll by NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist has revealed that 62 per cent Americans don’t believe the current 80-year-old Biden has the mental fitness to serve. When asked about his closest rival, 76-year-old Donald Trump, 43 per cent of Americans didn’t believe he had the fortitude to do so.

We take a closer look at what the survey reveals and why Biden’s mental fitness is the biggest concern for him and the Democrats with the 2024 election in mind.

The mental fitness survey

A new survey was recently carried out by NPR and PBSNewsHour and the results don’t bode well for Joe Biden. A whopping 62 per cent of Americans said that the question of Biden’s mental fitness is a real concern about his ability to be president. Only 36 per cent of Americans dismissed the questions about Biden’s mental sharpness, saying the concerns were merely a campaign strategy used by his opponents.

However, Biden’s rating was far higher than the leading Republican candidate, former President Donald Trump, whose mental fitness is a concern for 51 per cent. Forty-three per cent said his mental fitness was not a reason to worry.

Biden’s mental fitness is also becoming a big concern within the Democrat party, as per the findings of the survey. Almost 4 in 10 Democrats said his mental fitness was a real concern.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who served under Barack Obama, had recently raised concerns about the American president’s advancing age. Over the weekend at the Financial Times Weekend Festival in Washington, Clinton had said: “His age is an issue, and people have every right to consider it.” She, however, added, “He has this great saying – and I think he’s right – don’t judge him for running against the Almighty but against the alternative. I am of the camp that I think he’s determined to run; he has a good record that, three years ago, people would not have predicted would have gotten done.”

Also read: Joe Biden vs Donald Trump rematch in 2024: Why most Americans have switched off already

The survey also found that younger voters are the most likely age group to question Biden. Two-thirds of Generation Z and millennials expressed concern. Biden’s own contemporaries in the Silent and Greatest Generations, those born before 1946, are the most likely to give him the benefit of the doubt – just 45 per cent of them question his fitness, while 14 per cent are unsure how to feel.

This survey echoes the findings of a previous one conducted by Washington Post-ABC News. They asked a similar question and found 63 per cent of Americans saying Biden lacks the mental sharpness to serve as president.

Biden fuels fears

Americans’ concern about Biden’s mental health comes from the many gaffes that the 80-year-old US commander-in-chief is prone to. His ability to run for president a second time – he shall be 86 at the end of his presidency if he wins again in 2024 – has come under a microscope.

At the recently-concluded G-7 summit in Japan’s Hiroshima, Biden was caught on camera nearly tripping down a set of stairs at the Itsukushima Shrine in Hiroshima, Japan. Fortunately, the president did not fall down the stairs or seemingly injure himself as he caught himself before making contact with the ground.

And this isn’t an isolated incident. Earlier this year, the US president fell while walking up the stairs of Air Force One to depart from his surprise trip to Ukraine and Poland. And last year he fell off his bike while speaking with reporters in his hometown in Delaware.

Biden has also been left red-faced with his gaffe-prone comments. Last month, he had to rely on cheat sheets to answer them, with scripted replies written out by aides. He has made similar mistakes in the past, leaving supposedly confidential notes in the full glare of the media.

Photographers caught him revealing a cheat sheet at the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, last November that instructed him when to sit and take photos. A close up snap of the president sitting down showed him with a list of instructions that said ‘YOU will sit at the centre’ and ‘You will deliver opening remarks.’

However, his administration and his wife have brushed off any concerns about his mental fitness. US first lady Jill Biden in March dismissed a proposal by Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley for politicians over age 75 to take a mental competency test, calling it “ridiculous”.

When asked about Biden’s ability to campaign, she told CNN that his travel plan was reflective of his stamina. “How many 30-year-olds could travel to Poland, get on the train? Go nine more hours, go to Ukraine, meet with President (Volodymyr) Zelenskyy?” she said. “So, look at the man. Look what he’s doing. Look what he continues to do each and every day.”

Even former president Donald Trump has fuelled concerns about Biden’s mental acuity since the 2020 presidential campaign, once saying his successor is “not competent to be president.”

Early last week, 61 Republicans demanded President Biden take a cognitive test or pull out of the 2024 presidential race. Texas Representative Ronny Jackson, who led the charge, wrote that, in light of Biden’s 2024 presidential re-election campaign announcement, they were concerned with his “current cognitive state and ability to serve another term as President.”

The letter read, “When you first announced your bid to run in the 2020 presidential election, questions and concerns were raised surrounding your cognitive abilities. Those concerns have only increased because your mental decline and forgetfulness have become more apparent since you were elected. Over the past two years, public appearances where you shuffle your feet, trip when you walk, slur your words, forget names, lose your train of thought, and appear momentarily confused have become more of a common occurrence.”
s
“These incidents are so common and noticeable that if you search ‘Biden gaffes’ online, over 14,000,000 results appear,” the lawmakers wrote. “These incidents and the rate at which they occur are highly concerning and cast doubt upon your ability to execute the duties required of the President of the United States.”

With inputs from agencies

Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News,
India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.