According to new numbers released from a Washington Post/ABC News poll, just one-third of Americans say President Biden is “physically fit” and possesses the “mental acuity” needed to serve as Commander in Chief.
The abysmal numbers come on the heels of Biden’s recent and explosively lackluster re-election announcement video which was widely panned as a campaign launch void of substance or enthusiasm.
The poll also finds Biden hitting an all-time historic approval rating low of 36% as well, another indicator that the president is setting off into dangerous waters when it comes to asking America for a second term in the White House.
Perhaps the most egregious number, however, from a campaign perspective, is that both former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis would potentially beat Biden if the election were held today:
And in a hypothetical 2024 general election matchup, Biden is falling behind Trump, with 44% of voting-age respondents saying they would either “definitely” or “probably’ vote for Trump while 38% say the same for Biden. Meanwhile, 18% are undecided.
Biden is also trailing behind the other frontrunner in the GOP 2024 primary, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is expected to soon launch a presidential campaign. Some 42% of voting-age respondents said they would definitely or probably vote for DeSantis compared to 37% who would vote for Biden, and 21% are undecided.
The general election matchup numbers aren’t even as offensive, perhaps, as the fact that only a small fraction of Americans actually think Biden is capable of executing the job of the presidency.
For whatever anyone says about Trump, few would argue that he’s less mentally capable and less physically fit than Joe Biden:
Americans hold a better view of former President Donald Trump’s, who is widely seen as the frontrunner of the Republican primary race, capabilities to physically and mentally serve as president compared to Biden. Some 64% of Americans think Trump is in good enough physical health to serve and 54% think Trump is mentally fit to serve.
There are plenty of Americans who know full well Biden shouldn’t be sitting in the Oval Office but if their choice is Trump or Biden, they’ll pick the latter merely because they hate Donald Trump.
Numbers like these have some observers questioning if it’s really the right decision for Biden to seek a second term or if it’s time to hang it up. There seemed to be some indication that if Trump were not to run again, then perhaps Biden would’ve passed as well.
Trump appearing to be the front-runner right now for the GOP seems to have cemented Biden’s track to run for re-election.
In recent times, has America been in a situation where the sitting president seemed incapable of the job? Many argued that former President Ronald Reagan began exhibiting symptoms of Alzheimer’s during the latter years of his second term. In 1987, a memo was even circulated among Reagan’s senior staff voicing concern over inattentive behavior and wondering whether the Commander in Chief was fit to serve. The issue was summarily dismissed by most of Reagan’s inner circle, but questions remained.
It’s possible now that Biden is in a similar situation, though his behavior is being more closely observed and relentlessly documented thanks to the advent of smartphones and the digital age.
Whatever the case, Americans seem to agree on little, but they do agree that something isn’t right with Joe Biden and it seems preposterous that he should be seeking a second term.
