About half of Americans think President Joe Biden got special treatment when federal prosecutors decided last week they would not prosecute him for allegedly mishandling classified documents, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.
Some 53% of respondents, including 29% of Democrats, in the four-day poll which closed on Monday, agree with a statement that "Biden received special treatment because he is the U.S. president."
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Red State
13 Feb 2024
Ward Clark
A Reuters/Ipsos poll concluded Monday showed that half of Americans surveyed think that President Joe Biden received special treatment in Special Counsel Robert Hur's classified documents investigation because he is president.
About half - or 46% - of respondents said they were at least somewhat familiar with U.S. Special Counsel Robert Hur's comments that prosecuting Biden would be tough because Biden, 81, could present himself to the jury "as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory."
That last statement (I'd question the "well-meaning" part) caused a firestorm of replies from Democrats and has cast doubt on the President's re-election bid - and the wisdom of the Democratic Party in apparently keeping him as the candidate.
The poll results underscore potentially critical vulnerabilities for Biden as he seeks re-election. Some 78% of respondents in the poll - including 71% of Democrats - think Biden, already the oldest person ever to occupy the Oval Office, is too old to work in government.
Trump, his likely opponent in the November election, is 77 but suffers less from voter skepticism over his age. Only 53% of respondents consider Trump, who was president 2017-2021, to be too old for government work.
It's important to note that the "too old for government work" query produced over 50 percent results for both presidential candidates, although President Biden's number here is notably higher than former President Trump's.
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Another question in the survey involved both candidates having taken documents illegally. The responses to that question appear to be a statistical wash between Trump and Biden:
Some 64% of respondents, including 50% of Democrats, considered it believable that Biden's (sic) took the information illegally. A similar share of respondents - 68% - said they considered it believable that Trump also mishandled classified documents, a charge that is at the center of one of his indictments.
Note that this charge is "at the center of" one of Trump's indictments, but Special Counsel Hur has declined any prosecution (during or after his term in office) due to his being a "well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory," who is unable to stand trial for mishandling classified documents - granted there are different investigators and prosecutors involved.
Public perception of the capability of the candidates could be a big deciding factor in this fall's presidential election. Neither candidate is in late middle age - they are both senior citizens, one in his late '70s and one in his early '80s. Both have issues with handling classified documents, although there is one key difference: Donald Trump removed classified documents while president when he had the authority to declassify those docs (whether he did so or not is unclear), while Joe Biden removed classified materials not only when he was vice president, with no such declassification authority, but while he was a senator. And now, a majority of Americans believe that he was treated with kid gloves because he is the sitting commander-in-chief - and that he is too old for the job.
We do live in interesting times.