A poll found that a significant number of American adults doubt President Joe Biden’s mental capabilities and economic handling, while the 81-year-old is again willing to take the country’s top position.
Around 60 percent said they are not very or not at all confident in the President’s mental acuity, with 70 percent of Democrat voters saying they are confident or somewhat confident and 10 percent of Republican voters saying the same.
The 1,100 people survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, with an error margin of 4 percentage points, found the sitting President not in a good position to win a second term. At the same time, the answers were clearly the inverse between the two groups of Democratic and Republican supporters.
For example, in the same question about confidence in the mental capabilities of former president Donald Trump, almost 60 percent overall did not have confidence, which is broken down to 90 percent of Democrat voters not being confident, and 70 percent of Republican having confidence.
Other questions were about the quality of life, the economy, the border crisis, and illegal immigration, with answers as expected between the two groups of voters.
When asked whether their personal lives have improved or deteriorated since President Biden’s term, around 15 percent of Democrats said it was worse, while 70 percent of Republicans said it was worse.
One issue Democratic voters did not approve of President Biden in a majority is the Israel-Hamas war, with 40 percent of Democrats approving.
Another question on which President Biden did not get much support from Democratic voters was whether he could accomplish major policy goals, with almost 70 percent of Democrats not having much confidence that he could.
In the same question, almost 96 percent of Republicans were not confident he could accomplish major policy goals.
Democrats continued to distrust the sitting president, with only 20 percent being very confident he can reduce corruption in Washington.
Furthermore, only four in ten people had a favorable opinion of Vice President Kamala Harris.
Four in five adults think the country is headed in the wrong direction. Sixty-two percent of Democrats and 89 percent of Republicans think the country is headed in the wrong direction.
People’s views of Biden’s memory and acuity have soured since January 2022, when about half of those polled expressed similar concerns. (That survey didn’t ask a similar question about President Trump.)
In a major risk for President Biden, independents are likelier to say they lack confidence in his mental abilities (80 percent) than in President Trump’s (56 percent). Democrats are generally more concerned about President Biden’s mental capabilities than Republicans are with President Trump’s, raising the stakes of President Biden’s upcoming speech to a joint session of Congress on Thursday.
President Biden is facing additional pressure regarding his age following the release of a special counsel’s report that contained unflattering descriptions of his handling of classified records. The report did not recommend criminal prosecution, but it did describe the president’s memory as “hazy,” “fuzzy,” “faulty,” “poor,” and possessing “significant limitations.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
