Polls show Democrats approve of the job the president is doing and will support him, but they worry about his age.
As Joe Biden prepares to launch a reelection bid, a new poll shows about half of Democrats want him to run again, but more than 80% say they would still support the US president in 2024 Defeated Republican opponents in the 2018 general election.
Twenty-six percent of Americans — including 47 percent of Democrats — want to see Biden seek re-election, according to an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll released Friday.
Biden’s candidacy appears to be gaining traction among Democrats. In a January poll, 37 percent of Democratic respondents said they wanted him to run.
A total of 81% of Democrats said they would at least likely support Biden if he were nominated. The poll included 1,230 respondents.
Biden has made clear his intention to run for president again, but has yet to formally announce it. Several U.S. media outlets have reported that the president will launch his campaign early next week, perhaps on Tuesday — four years after he announced his 2020 campaign.
Seventy-eight percent of Democratic respondents in Friday’s poll said they approve of the job Biden is doing as president. But his age appears to be the main issue with his candidacy.
The 80-year-old Biden is already the oldest president in American history. If re-elected, he would be 82 at the time of his second inauguration and 86 by the end of that term.
Jenipher Lagana, 59, told The Associated Press she liked Biden and described him as a “fun guy” with an “incredible political career.”
But “my problem with his 2024 run is that he’s too old,” said Lagana, who is retired and lives in California.
An incumbent who is eligible for re-election rarely faces a serious primary challenge from within his party. Should Biden run again, he is the clear favorite to win the Democratic nomination.
So far, two other Democrats have announced their bids for the 2024 presidency, but their campaigns have largely been viewed as hopeless endeavors.
Self-help author and 2020 candidate Marianne Williamson announced her primary challenge to Biden earlier this year, promising more progressive policies.
Robert F Kennedy Jr, scion of one of the most powerful Democratic families and known as a vaccine skeptic, also launched a presidential campaign this month promising to oppose what he called “the Corrupt merger of state and corporate power”.
Kennedy was the nephew of slain U.S. President John F. Kennedy and the son of Robert Kennedy, who served as attorney general and was assassinated while running for president in 1968.
On the Republican side, former President Donald Trump appears to be the frontrunner for the 2024 nomination despite his legal troubles.
The former president faces criminal charges in New York as well as various investigations, including one into his push to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, widely considered Trump’s most serious rival for the Republican nomination, has yet to announce his bid. As Florida’s governor, DeSantis rose to prominence in conservative circles for supporting right-wing causes on social issues in Florida.
Former U.S. envoy to the United Nations Nikki Haley is also seeking the Republican nomination.
Other candidates include former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, entrepreneur and author Vivek Ramaswamy and conservative commentator Larry Elder.
