On Wednesday, President Joe Biden will visit Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for his annual physical.
Considering his advanced age, this will likely be his last health report prior to the 2024 presidential election.
The president is expected to see his doctor, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, who has already given a report on the president’s condition following physical exams. At 1:30 p.m. ET, Biden will address neighborhood safety and crime prevention tactics in a press conference.
The White House announced later on Wednesday that it would release a written record of the president’s physical examination to the general public. The daily news briefing is held on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m.
“At 81, Biden is the oldest president to have held the office. He would be 86 years old at the end of a potential second term. Concerns about Biden’s age and stamina and criticism have followed him around for a long time,” CNN reported.
In a recent CNN-SSRS survey conducted earlier this month, 46% of Democrats voiced concern about his advanced age.
Only 35% of registered voters think Biden is physically strong enough to serve a second term, while 34% think he is cognitively fit enough, according to a new countrywide Quinnipiac University survey.
Biden made an effort to explicitly address the issue at a recent press conference, objecting to Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report that called him a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
“I am well-meaning. And I’m an elderly man. And I know what the hell I’m doing. I’ve been president – I put this country back on its feet. I don’t need his recommendation,” a visibly seething Biden said at the time.
A few weeks later, Biden admitted his advanced age by remarking, “I may not run as fast as I used to,” at an off-camera fundraiser.
He said to a gathering of contributors in Beverly Hills, California, “I tell you what: I’ve been around long enough to know what’s going on.” “I’ve been around long enough to hopefully, with age, have a little bit of wisdom about how we can get things done.
In an attempt to test a fresh line of attack against former President Donald Trump, Biden said earlier this week that voters should consider a candidate’s age in addition to “how old (their) ideas are” during an interview on NBC’s “Late Night with Seth Meyers.” Biden has presented his advanced age as a source of life lessons learned.
According to a new Harvard Harris Poll, Biden’s opinion that he is no longer intellectually capable of leading the country is beginning to erode.
Thirty-two percent of respondents to the poll said they doubted Biden’s mental acuity, and less than one-third (32%) said he is mentally ready to be president.
In the meanwhile, the poll revealed that majority respondents support Biden in a Democratic contest. However, the poll indicates that Vice President Kamala Harris is the front-runner as the favored candidate in the event that he decides not to run.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. lags with 16 percent of the vote when Biden stays in the race. On the other hand, Harris becomes a dominant role with 44 percent if Biden is excluded, essentially doubling RFK’s support of 22 percent.
The poll’s results suggest that the conclusions might have an effect on the 2024 presidential race. Even though Biden has an around 40% approval rating overall, voters who aren’t sure about him may base their decision mostly on his mental health. According to poll analysts, Democrats need to take a proactive approach to addressing these issues if they are to win Biden a second term.
Regarding fictitious contests, Trump continues to lead Biden by five points and Harris by nine points. According to the survey, DeSantis virtually ties both Biden and Harris in straight-up comparisons.
A recent NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist survey indicates that a majority of Americans—62 percent to 36 percent—believe that Joe Biden lacks the mental capacity to serve as president for a second term.
But Biden’s approval rating did experience a little bump, rising to 45% from last month’s 4 points. That suggests that a sizable portion of voters will probably have grave doubts about Biden’s mental health but will still support him, according to NPR.
