Former President Donald Trump is only about four years younger than President Joe Biden, 80, but he is leading Biden by 26 points on the issue of age according to The Wall Street Journal's latest poll released Monday morning.
Some 73% of registered U.S. voters say Biden "is too old to run for president." That number is below a majority for Trump (47%), giving him a 26-point edge on the age issue before what is currently looking like a presidential general election rematch in 2024.
Even two-thirds of Democrats said Biden was too old to run again, the Journal reported.
Biden's age is not the only warning sign for the incumbent. Trump beats him on cognitive condition (Trump is ahead 10 points), caring about you (1 point), future vision (8 points), and presidential record (11 points) in the poll, according the Journal.
Only 39% of voters hold a favorable view of Biden, while just 42% approve of the job he has done, compared to 57% who disapprove.
Trump is tied with Biden at 46% support in a head-to-head matchup, but leads Biden by 1 point (40%-39%) when third-party candidates are taken into account, which is more likely to be the reality on the 2024 presidential ballot.
"If this race is about personality and temperament, then Biden has an advantage; if this race is about policies and performance, then Trump has the advantage," said Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio, who also polls for a pro-Trump PAC.
It is still about "the economy, stupid," as Democrat strategist James Carville famously stated.
Only 28% say Biden has made the economy better, while 58% say it has gotten worse — and notably that is coming out of the economic destruction of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, Trump is a runaway against the GOP presidential primary field:
- Former President Donald Trump, 59%
- Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, 13%
- Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, 8%
- Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, 5%
- Former Vice President Mike Pence, 2%
- Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, 3%
- Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., 2%
- Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, 1%
- North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, 1%
- Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas, 0%
The Wall Street Journal polled 1,500 registered U.S. voters Aug. 24-30. There were subsets of 750 likely voters and 600 Republican primary voters.
The results have a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points for the full sample, plus or minus 3.6 percentage points for likely voters, and plus or minus 4.0 percentage points for GOP primary voters.