Half of Voters Skeptical Biden Will Seek Reelection

Half of America’s voters doubt President Joe Biden will seek a second term in 2024, according to a new poll, with some Democrats questioning whether he is too old to mount another run at the White House.

Biden, who is 79 years old, has weathered a series of crises since taking office, marked by a resurgent COVID-19 pandemic, rising inflation, a chaotic drawdown from Afghanistan, and Russia’s war on Ukraine, prompting people to question whether he can continue apace through another six years.

“I don’t think President Biden is going to run — not simply because of his age, but he’s been doing this for a very long time. You can hear it in his voice. You don’t hear the same level of energy and enthusiasm,” Derrick Jackson, a Democratic state legislator from Georgia, told the Wall Street Journal.

Jackson, who is running for lieutenant governor, told the outlet that he expected the president to elevate Vice President Kamala Harris as his successor. “We prefer to fight for a candidate that we know is going to have the enthusiasm, the vigor, and the political chops to really fight for those things that are right. And President Biden is exhausted,” he said.

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One Democratic lawmaker told the Journal that colleagues watched Biden’s State of the Union address last month, hopeful that the president wouldn’t falter. “Everybody was very pleasantly surprised with the State of the Union address and breathed a sigh of relief when it was over,” the lawmaker said.

A new Wall Street Journal poll found slightly more than half of voters did not think Biden would seek reelection in 2024, compared to 29% who think he will run for another term. Nineteen percent were undecided. Among Democrats, the number who predict a second bid is higher, at 41%. Yet, 32% of Democrats believe he won’t, and more than a quarter said they were unsure.

The survey was conducted between March 2 and March 7 among 1,500 registered voters, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.

Biden has said he intends to run for reelection, but he told ABC News last year that “I’m a great respecter of fate. Fate has intervened in my life many, many times. If I’m in the health I’m in now, if I’m in good health, then in fact I would run again.”

In an interview with the Economic Club of Washington this month, White House chief of staff Ron Klain insisted that Biden’s fitness “is beyond question.”

The survey revealed broader challenges for Biden among voters.

Fifty-seven percent of voters said they were unhappy with the president’s job performance despite approving of his response to the Ukraine crisis and the State of the Union address.

Voters also marked Biden poorly on his handling of the economy, inflation, response to rising crime, and efforts to secure the southern border.

Approval of Biden’s record dovetails with the Democratic Party’s difficulties on the economy, crime, and other policy issues, a potential challenge as the party attempts to defend narrow majorities in the midterm elections this year.

In a worrying sign for Democrats, voters said they think the Republican Party can better rebuild the economy and improve the country’s quality of life, while reducing crime and inflation, both surging over the last year.

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Nearly half of voters said they believed former President Donald Trump would run for the White House for a third time, 49%, compared to 27% who didn’t think he would. The poll found Biden and Trump tied in a hypothetical matchup, 45% to 45%.

Asked about facing off once again opposite Trump, Biden told ABC that this would only “increase the prospect of running.”