WASHINGTON — President Biden tried to talk past the campaign issue of his age Wednesday, telling reporters that “it doesn’t register with me,” before admitting it was fair for voters to take “a hard look at it.”
Biden, 80, is already the oldest-ever president and he sought to deflect concerns while taking his first reporter questions since launching his re-election campaign a day earlier.
“You’ve said questions about your age are legitimate. And your response is always, ‘Just watch me’, but the country is watching and recent polling shows that 70% of Americans, including the majority of Democrats, believe you shouldn’t run again,” ABC’s Mary Bruce asked Biden at a Rose Garden appearance with South Korea’s president.
“What do you say to them? What do you say to those Americans who are watching and aren’t convinced? You’ve said you can beat Trump again. Do you think you’re the only one?”
“I may not be the only one, but I know him well,” Biden replied. “And I know the danger he presents to our democracy. And we’ve been down this road before.
“And with regard to the age, you know, and polling, I noticed the polling data I keep hearing about is that I’m between 42 and 46% favorable rating, etc. But everybody running for re-election in this time has been in the same position,” added the president before arguing public approval is higher for specific policies he’s pushed, such as increased subsidies for computer chip manufacturers.
Turning to his age, Biden said: “I can’t even say — I guess, how old I am, I can’t even say the number. It doesn’t — it doesn’t register with me. And — but the only thing I can say is that one of the things that people are going to find out, they’re going to see a race and they’re going to judge whether or not I have it or don’t have it.
“I respect them taking a hard look at it. I’d take a hard look at as well. I took a hard look at it before I decided to run. And I feel good. I feel excited about the prospects. And I think we’re on the verge of really turning the corner in a way we haven’t in a long time.”
Biden, who would be 86 years old if he completes a second term, routinely shares false or embellished stories. On Tuesday, for example, he incorrectly said his grandfather had died two weeks before Biden was born at the same hospital.
Concern about Biden’s mental fitness peaked in September when he asked “Where’s Jackie?” and searched for the late Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-Ind.) at an event — despite publicly mourning her death in a car crash and even calling her family to offer his condolences in August.
In December, Biden claimed that his late uncle Frank Biden won the Purple Heart for his actions during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II — but there’s no evidence of the award and key details make the story factually impossible.
In October, Biden said firefighters nearly died extinguishing a blaze in his kitchen in 2004, prompting the local fire department to describe the event as relatively “insignificant” for trained professionals.
In May, Biden said at the Naval Academy’s graduation ceremony that he was appointed to the military school in 1965 by the late Sen. J. Caleb Boggs (R-Del.). A search of Boggs’ archives failed to turn up evidence of the appointment.
To date, the oldest US president upon leaving office was Ronald Reagan, who was 77 when he completed his second term in January 1989.
Former President Trump, 76, is seeking a second non-consecutive term after narrowly losing the White House to Biden in 2020. The former president faces an array of declared and potential challengers for the Republican nomination, including former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, 51, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, 44.