Half of voters say Trump, 78, is too old to run as president as his age hits the spotlight
The number of voters who think that 78-year-old Donald Trump is in good health is dropping and the number who believe he’s too old to run for president is increasing, a new poll shows.
This comes after 81-year-old President Joe Biden’s departure from the race and his replacement atop the Democratic ticket with Vice President Kamala Harris, 59. On Tuesday, Harris revealed her running mate Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, 60, during a raucous rally in Philadelphia.
A new Morning Consult poll juxtaposed the results from when Biden was still the presumptive nominee. When Trump was running against Biden, 58 percent believed the former president was in “good health” – that number is down to 52 percent now that he’s campaigning against Harris.
More than half – 51 percent – of respondents in the poll, which surveyed 2,200 registered voters, said that Trump is now too old to run, compared to 44 percent who said so when he was running against Biden.
Similarly, the number of voters who believe Trump is mentally fit for the office has gone from 53 to 48 percent, a five-point decrease, as his opponent has changed.
Trump has now become the oldest-ever candidate for US president and would become the oldest-ever sitting president, a title currently held by Biden, if he wins a second term. Biden has long faced concerns about his age, but those worries were turbocharged after his disastrous debate performance on June 27.
Trump is only three years Biden’s junior but hasn’t faced the same level of scrutiny when it comes to his age, despite his similarly gaffe-prone nature.
The nomination of Harris has now shifted the concerns about the candidates’ age to the Republicans.
Seventy-one percent of voters said Harris is in good health, compared to 30 percent for Biden. Sixty-four percent said she’s mentally fit while only 35 percent said the same about Biden. Meanwhile, 48 percent said she’s a strong leader compared to 38 percent who said the same about Biden.
Only 12 percent of voters believe Harris is too old – while 70 percent said the same about Biden.
The concerns about Trump’s age are more likely to focus on his behavior rather than his fragility and longevity, as was the case with Biden.
About half of voters said they were worried about Trump’s erratic behavior because of his age, including as many as four in five of those who were unsure he’d be up for serving a full second term. About the same number are concerned about his ability to make decisions while about two in five said they were concerned about losing American strength abroad.
Harris has also expanded the lead over Trump compared to Biden when it comes to trust on several issues, such as abortion, the climate crisis, education, health care and protecting US democracy.
Similarly, Trump’s lead on some issues, such as gun policy, crime, the economy, and foreign policy, has decreased.
A survey conducted before Biden left the race found that 36 percent of voters, including 45 percent of independents, said it’s unlikely that Trump would be able to serve a full four-year term if he’s re-elected in November.
