OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
First Lady Jill Biden said that her husband Joe Biden’s age isn’t a problem and that it should not prevent Americans from re-electing him later this year — despite his numerous gaffes, constant struggles to deliver a coherent sentence, or polling showing worries among voters that he is too old to hold office.
MSNBC “Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski asked Jill on Thursday: “To those who say, ‘I can’t vote for Joe Biden, he’s too old,’ what do you say?”
“I say his age is an asset. He’s wise, he has wisdom, he’s experienced. He knows every leader on the world stage. He’s lived history, he knows history, he’s thoughtful in his decisions. He is the right man, the right person, for the job at this moment in history,” she claimed.
“He can do it. I see Joe every day. I see him out, traveling around this country, I see his vigor, I see his energy, I see his passion every single day,” she added.
Nevertheless, majorities of Americans polled over the past year, at least, have said they think the president is too old to run for a second term.
The country has watched as he struggles with words during speeches and falls several times, leading to questions about his cognitive abilities.
WATCH:
Earlier this week, a leading strategist for JPMorgan Chase said that Joe Biden will drop out of the 2024 race at some point before election day, suggesting that there are already plans in place for that to happen.
Michael Cembalest, who leads the financial giant’s market and investment strategy unit in JPMorgan Chase’s asset management division, believes Biden, 81, will leave the race “sometime between Super Tuesday and the November election, citing health concerns.”
Super Tuesday, which is scheduled for March 5, involves primaries in more than a dozen states, including California, Texas, Massachusetts, Vermont, and North Carolina. In the modern era, whoever wins the bulk of Super Tuesday primaries is considered the frontrunner and eventual party nominee.
Cembalest justified his prediction by citing Biden’s approval rating, especially for a president who can claim “around 10% job creation since his inauguration,” though much if not most of that was caused by Americans returning to the workforce after lengthy COVID shutdowns, which Cembalest noted in a forecast letter to investors and clients.
He didn’t predict who would take Biden’s spot but predicted it would be “a replacement candidate named by the Democratic National Committee.”
Conventional wisdom suggests that Vice President Kamala Harris would be the logical replacement, but she is extremely unpopular—more so than Biden—with a 55-percent disapproval rating, according to political analysis site FiveThirtyEight.
That said, “Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) and self-help author Marianne Williamson are the only other Democrats who have declared their candidacies,” the New York Post noted.
Cembalest is not the only one who has predicted Biden will leave the race—or should leave it.
In November, the longtime Democratic strategist and operative who helped Barack Obama win two terms is all but begging President Joe Biden to drop out of the 2024 race.
David Axelrod made his plea following the release of a New York Times/Siena College poll of registered voters that spelled excessively bad news for Biden. The poll found Biden trailing former President Donald Trump in five of six critical swing states a year out from the election and having only a 2-point lead over Trump in a sixth battleground state.
“Only Joe Biden can make this decision. If he continues to run, he will be the nominee of the Democratic Party,” Axelrod noted on the X platform. “What he needs to decide is whether that is wise; whether it’s in his best interest or the country’s?”
“It’s very late to change horses; a lot will happen in the next year that no one can predict, and Biden’s team says his resolve to run is firm. He’s defied CW before, but this will send tremors of doubt through the party—not ‘bed-wetting,’ but legitimate concern,” Axelrod added, citing “conventional wisdom” in another post with a graphic of the polling data.
