Poll: Are Biden and Trump too old to make another run for White House?
AUSTIN, Texas - Are President Joe Biden and Former President Donald Trump too old to make another run for the White House?
A new poll released on Super Bowl Sunday showed 27% of respondents believe only Joe Biden is too old to run again, and 3% think only Trump is too old to run for another term. But the vast majority, 59%, of Americans think Biden and Trump are both too old to be president.
Finally, 11% think neither is too old.
Democratic analyst Ed Espinoza and Travis County GOP Chairman Matt Mackowiak joined FOX 7 Austin's Rebecca Thomas to discuss.
REBECCA THOMAS: Matt, looking at the numbers, does Biden have an age issue with voters?
MATT MACKOWIAK: Oh, there's no question. There's no question. I mean, that's been showing up in the polling now for all three years of his presidency. And it certainly appears that his cognitive situation is not improving, and that's not something that makes anyone happy. It's a sad thing to witness. It's a sad thing to witness when it's, you know, your grandparent. It's not just sad, but it's also very dangerous for our country to have a commander in chief at a time with so many challenges on the border in the Middle East, in Europe. You know, with China, to have someone who clearly is, is, having challenges. And so, look, it's not simply a question of age. It's a question of your health, of your mental health, of your capacity. Are you able to communicate? Are you able to have the most stressful job ever devised by man? And that's it. That's something that both keynotes are going to have to demonstrate when they run for president the rest of this year.
WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 13: U.S. President Joe Biden speaks on the Senate's recent passage of the National Security Supplemental Bill, which provides military aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, in the State Dining Room of the White House on Februar
REBECCA THOMAS: And again, it's not just Biden. Almost 60% of respondents think both of these men are too old. What is your take?
ED ESPINOZA: Yeah. And it's wild to me that Republicans have been pushing this issue about Biden's age for the past four years, because let's look at some of the things that Donald Trump is known for. First of all, he said that Nikki Haley was in charge of security on January 6th. He confused nine over 11 with 711, and he bragged about acing a cognitive test where people were. This is a test where they are screened for dementia and Alzheimer's. Look, that was all in the past month. They're both old. The question is, do you want one who is capable, or do you want one who is so unpredictable that you don't know what he'll say or do? So just Donald Trump. And I don't think that's a hard question for voters to answer. They've answered it before.
REBECCA THOMAS: Matt. Should both parties do more to elevate younger people within their parties?
MATT MACKOWIAK: Yeah. I mean, it's not simply a question of parties. It's a question of candidates who step up to run, what kind of campaign they run, what kind of support can they earn, and how can they demonstrate to voters that they're ready to do the job they're asking to get hired to do? Look, I mean, Ed, I can go through a list of things Biden has done recently, forgetting when he was vice president to from when his oldest son, Beau, died. And we can do that. Come on.
ED ESPINOZA: He didn't forget when he died. I mean, that's that's that was just an outlandish statement by somebody, and it's unfounded. Every parent who's unfortunate to see their child passes remembers that day clearly. You can't honestly believe that claim.
Former US President and 2024 presidential hopeful Donald Trump speaks at a "Get Out the Vote" Rally in Conway, South Carolina, on February 10, 2024. (Photo by Julia Nikhinson / AFP) (Photo by JULIA NIKHINSON/AFP via Getty Images)
MATT MACKOWIAK: I'll be happy to send that to you, Ed, if you haven't seen it. I'm not making it up. But either way, either.
ED ESPINOZA: Anyway, I see what he said. I just said, I don't believe it. I don't think anybody else does either.
MATT MACKOWIAK: I understand you don't believe it. That's fine. He did admit to the special counsel that he didn't know when he was vice president, so maybe that's not bad enough.
REBECCA THOMAS: Okay, final question. Ed, are Americans getting the candidates they want again this November? We still need to go through the primaries. But what do you think?
ED ESPINOZA: Look, it's no secret that these are not the most popular candidates that you've seen on the ballot. It's a rerun of a previous election, just like it was a rerun of a previous Super Bowl. But that Super Bowl got pretty exciting at the end. And I think this election might be the same way. And the thing is, they're both whole. The question is which one best supports the values you believe in. And that's ultimately where voters are going to have to decide between.
REBECCA THOMAS: All right. Ed, Matt, we are out of time. But thank you both for sharing your perspectives with us tonight.