President Biden openly touted California Gov. Gavin Newsom as a hot contender for the White House — telling world leaders the younger man “could have the job I’m looking for,” referring to his 2024 reelection bid.

“I want to thank him. He’s been one hell of a governor, man,” Biden, who turns 81 next week, said of the 56-year-old fellow Democrat after he warmed up the crowd for him at a reception for leaders at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference.

“Matter of fact, he can be anything he wants — he could have the job I’m looking for,” said Biden, who is currently the Democrats’ frontrunner for 2024.

Newsom was previously mentioned as a potential Biden primary challenger as he ramped up his national image.

He made headlines last month when he went on a week-long trip to China to speak with President Xi Jinping ahead of the APEC conference.

The governor told reporters the purpose of the trip was for “turning the page, of renewing our friendship and re-engaging (on) foundational and fundamental issues that will determine our collective faith in the future.”

At a press conference after the meeting, Newsom also said that he and Xi discussed ways to “accelerate our progress on climate in meaningful and substantive ways,” according to a report from CBS News.

Newsom has also positioned himself as a prominent Democrat — announcing he would debate his Florida counterpart Ron DeSantis later this month.

The two had been verbally attacking each other for months, with Newsom hitting out at DeSantis over bans on critical race theory in classrooms, prohibition of instruction related to sexual orientation and gender identity for kids in kindergarten through the fourth grade and restrictions on abortion.

Back in April, Newsom even jetted down to DeSantis’ home turf to condemn changes enacted at New College of Florida in Sarasota.

The Biden campaign is now said to view Newsom as key to getting out the Democratic message, and on Tuesday the California governor raked in an estimated $3 million for the president’s campaign at a San Francisco fundraiser, according to Politico.

But the president is still trailing former President Donald Trump in national polls, which reveal growing concerns among voters about Biden’s competency.

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Trump, 77, leads Biden, 80, 44% to 42% in a head-to-head election match-up, the Yahoo News/YouGov poll released Wednesday shows. 

The survey also found that 54% say Biden, who turns 81 next week, no longer has “the competence to carry out the job of president,” up from 49% in February. 

Under a third of respondents, 31%, believe the president is still competent, the survey shows, a four-percentage point decrease from February. 

Concerns over Biden’s “health and mental acuity” have also risen, with 64% saying they are somewhat or very concerned about the matter.

In June 2020, before Biden took office, fewer than half of Americans (48%) said they had the same level of worry about the candidate’s health and mental state. 

But since then, Americans have become more aware of the president’s verbal and physical slips.

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More voters have heard “a lot” about Biden “physically stumbling at public events” (47%); making “verbal gaffes” (41%) and “falling asleep at public events” (33%) than they have about Congress passing the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (20%) or Medicare being allowed to negotiate lower prescription drug prices under the so-called Inflation Reduction Act (23%). 

The poll comes the same week David Axelrod, one of former President Barack Obama’s top advisers, warned that Biden’s “age issue” was consistent in polling and the “one thing” his campaign wouldn’t be able to reverse. 

“The one number in the polling that was concerning, and in the CNN poll that followed after The New York Times poll, had to do with age, and that is one thing you can’t reverse no matter how effective Joe Biden is behind the scenes. In front of the camera, what he’s projecting is causing people concerns, and that is worrisome,” Axelrod said during an appearance on CNN Sunday.