A recent ABC News/Ipsos poll has found that an overwhelming majority of Americans believe that President Joe Biden is too old to serve another term in the White House. The poll, conducted on February 9 and 10, comes shortly after a report from special counsel Robert Hur described Biden as a "well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory." The poll surveyed 528 adults aged 18 or older and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.
According to the poll, 86 percent of Americans believe that Biden, who is 81 years old, is too old to serve another term. Interestingly, 59 percent of those surveyed also believe that former President Donald Trump, who is 77 years old, is too old for the office. Of those surveyed, 27 percent believe that only Biden is too old, while 3 percent believe that only Trump is too old.
This poll poses a challenge for the Biden campaign, which has been working to dispel concerns about the president's mental acuity following Hur's report. Hur was assigned to investigate Biden's possible mishandling of classified documents, and while no charges were filed, Hur's report highlighted Biden's limited memory and inability to recall significant events such as the death of his son Beau in 2015 and details of a debate about sending troops to Afghanistan.
The poll, conducted after the report was made public, suggests that voters' perception of the president may be influenced by the report. Concerns about both Biden and Trump's age have increased since September, when a previous ABC News/Washington Post poll found that 74 percent of respondents believed Biden was too old to be reelected.
Biden's campaign officials and surrogates have been pushing back against the report's depiction of the president. Campaign co-chair Mitch Landrieu called the idea that Biden is incapable of carrying out the duties of the office "a bucket of BS," while Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas described Biden as sharp, intensely probing, and detail-oriented.
The statements made by Hur have drawn comparisons to FBI Director James Comey's comments about Hillary Clinton's handling of classified material during the 2016 election. Critics argue that both sets of remarks were cheap shots. Despite the pushback from Biden's team, the poll results indicate that concerns about his age and mental capacity persist among a significant portion of the American public.