Biden's Age and the U.S. Economy Are Threatening His Re-Election Bid, Poll Says

Americans don't feel secure with their leadership.

Americans are increasingly worried that the U.S. economy is on the verge of going belly up, and given the fact that prices are still up across the board, their worries may be justified.

But when you combine those worries with their belief that President Joe Biden is too old to handle that or any other crisis, the president's 2024 re-election bid looks ugly. According to a new poll from the Wall Street Journal, that's exactly what Biden is up against, too.

According to the poll, only 39 percent of Americans hold a favorable view of the president right now. 42 percent approve of how he's handling his job, while 57 percent disapprove.

More from the WSJ's findings.

The Journal survey, while pointing to a large set of challenges Biden faces in persuading voters that he deserves re-election, also finds weaknesses in his likely opponent. Voters in the survey rated Trump as less honest and likable than Biden, and a majority viewed Trump’s actions after his 2020 election loss as an illegal effort to stop Congress from declaring Biden the proper winner.

“Voters are looking for change, and neither of the leading candidates is the change that they’re looking for,” said Democratic pollster Michael Bocian, who conducted the survey with Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio.

Although the candidates are only three years apart, 73% of voters said they feel Biden is too old to seek a second term, compared with 47% of voters who said the same of the 77-year-old Trump. Two-thirds of Democrats said Biden was too old to run again.

By an 11-point margin, more voters see Trump rather than Biden as having a record of accomplishments as president—some 40% said Biden has such a record, while 51% said so of Trump. By an eight-point margin, more voters said Trump has a vision for the future. And by 10 points, more described Trump as mentally up to the presidency. Some 46% said that is true of Trump, compared with 36% who said so of Biden.

Trump and Biden are also tied in a head-to-head, with each getting 46 percent of the vote. However, while Trump is seen as having a record of accomplishments, Biden has better personal favorability than Trump. 48 percent of voters said Biden is likable, while just 31 percent said the same of Trump. And 45 percent viewed Biden as honest, while only 38 percent said so of Trump.

As one of the pollsters noted, if it's a race about personality and likability, Joe Biden has the advantage. But if Americans are more worried about the economy and accomplishments, the advantage goes to Trump.

That is a problem for Biden, who is having to deal with an economy that he says is fine but Americans simply don't believe him. He is also increasingly becoming more closely tied to his son's criminal actions. The Democrats, as a whole, are also struggling against the tide of parental rights advocacy in education and health care.

In the spirit of our beloved friend James Carville, it's still the economy, stupid.

Biden has spent months trying to turn the GOP talking point of "Bidenomics" into a good thing. In fact, just this morning, Biden has an op-ed out in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel touting his economy.

Three weeks ago, at a clean energy factory in Milwaukee, I met an IBEW electrician who builds and repairs America’s growing fleet of wind turbine generators. He said, “In America, with hard work and a little faith, anything is possible.”

He embodies the spirit of Labor Day, which honors the dignity of the American worker and recognizes that Wall Street didn’t build America, the middle class built America, and unions built the middle class.

We’ve seen that spirit throughout our history, especially over the last three years as we’ve been rebuilding our economy from the middle out and bottom up, not from the top down. Our plan, called Bidenomics, is working.

And while whoever penned this op-ed (I cannot bring myself to believe that he wrote anything this coherent) cites a bunch of stats and numbers that look great on paper, the problem isn't the stats on jobs and investment. The stats that have Americans worried include cost increases at the gas pump, in the grocery stores, and on our monthly bills. The Biden administration claims that "Bidenomics" is working, but "Bidenomics" threw a ton of money into the economy and caused inflation to spike to record highs.

What's more, because of that, the Federal Reserve has jacked up the national interest rate, meaning it's now more expensive for Americans to make bigger purchases, like cars and homes, and credit card debt continues to be on the rise in America.

It's great that 13 million Americans have gotten jobs since he took office, but their new wages haven't kept up with inflation, and American families have lost $10,000 or more in spending power since Biden took office.

And when you combine the truth that Biden can't defend himself against these facts at all, much less coherently, people are not only worried about the economy but also his age and competency.