OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
It is no secret that President Joe Biden has wanted to be president for decades, unsuccessfully campaigning for president in 1988 and 2008 before becoming president in 2020.
New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg penned a piece this week in which she said she believes the president should not attempt to win the presidency again in 2024 because he is “too old.”
“By the time he finally achieved the office he longed for, he was far past his prime,” she said while defending Biden by saying many of the crises he has been faced with are not his fault. “Nevertheless, I hope he doesn’t run again, because he’s too old.”
She spoke about a recent poll that showed that 64 percent of Democrats do not want him to campaign for the presidency again.
“Those Democrats cite Biden’s age more than any other factor, though job performance is close behind. Their concern isn’t surprising. Biden has always been given to gaffes and malapropisms, but there is painful suspense in watching him speak now, like seeing someone wobble on a tightrope,” she said.
She also criticized also said that repeating the phrase “Putin’s price hike,” was “not enough.”
“We are ruled by a gerontocracy. Biden is 79. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is 82. The House majority leader, Steny Hoyer, is 83. The Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, is 71. Often, it’s not clear if they grasp how broken this country is,” she said.
The author argued that the president could “step aside without conceding failure,” saying, “There’s no shame in not running for president in your 80s.”
On Tuesday, Biden apparently misunderstood a recent poll that showed the majority of Democrats do not want him to campaign for president again in 2024.
“Mr. President, what’s your message to Democrats who don’t want you to run again?” a reporter said to the president at a White House Congressional Picnic on the South Lawn.
“They want me to run,” the president said.
“Two-thirds say they don’t,” the reporter said.
The president did not like that response as he got a furious look in his eyes and approached the reporter.
“Read the polls. Read the polls, Jack,” he said. “You guys are all the same! That poll showed that 92 percent of Democrats if I ran, would vote for me.”
Apparently, the president took what he wanted from that poll because he focused only on who Democrats would vote for if their only other choice was former President Donald Trump.
“A majority of Democrats say they don’t want you to run again in 2024,” the reporter said, getting to the actual question he wanted to be answered.
But Biden got defensive and repeated his point again, “92 percent said if I did they’d vote for me.”
"What's your message to Democrats who don't want you to run again?"
BIDEN: "Read the polls! Read the polls, Jack! You guys are all the same." pic.twitter.com/e0G3Sfufwm
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) July 12, 2022
Perhaps Biden should be reading the polls because they are not favorable to him.
A new poll shows that a whopping 71 percent of voters do not want the 79-year-old making an attempt to be president again in 2024 when he would be 82 years old, Mediaite reported.
The Harvard-Harris poll was conducted among 1,308 registered voters on June 28 and 29.
Among those who said he shouldn’t run, the most common reason given was that “he’s a bad president (45%), followed by “he’s too old” (30%), and “it’s time for a change” (26%).
Not surprisingly, the poll shows Biden with weak approval ratings on a host of issues, but he fares worst on economic matters. Just 28% either strongly or somewhat approve of his handling of inflation, while 32% approve of his handling of the economy overall.
The poll puts Biden’s general approval rating at 38%. Moreover, an alarming 64% of Americans say their personal financial situation is “getting worse.” That’s the highest number since at least before the Covid-19 pandemic began.
And if Democrats believe that the issue of abortion is going to help them in the 2022 midterms or the 2024 presidential campaign, this poll shows they are not near the top of the radar.
The top three issues, the poll showed, are Inflation at 40%, the economy in general at 29, and guns at 20%.
Women’s rights polled at 17 percent, which was a six-point increase from the previous poll as it came a week after the Supreme Court’s decision to end Roe V Wade.
