President Joe Biden is already the oldest president ever elected or ever to hold the office, but he turns 81 on Monday and Democrats backing him want to stress former President Donald Trump's age is equally advanced.
"I think everyone knows it's an issue, and we have to address it," former Biden administration White House chief of staff Ron Klain told Politico, wanting to "emphasize it gives him more wisdom and experience, how he's navigated this difficult problem in Ukraine."
"He'll keep on doing the job, campaigning with vigor and demonstrating to the American people his energy level, which is quite robust."
A Democrat donor and Biden bundler, Alan Kessler told Politico age should not be important in the 2024 presidential rematch between Biden and Trump because of the age of both leading candidates.
"Neither are going to get any younger on their next birthdays, but yet Biden seems to get, on a continuing basis, knocked for his age while Trump does not," Kessler lamented to Politico. "No one brings up the age thing with [Trump]. That double standard is troubling."
But it remains a disparate issue for Biden among young voters than Trump voters, according to the latest NBC News poll released Sunday.
Among young voters (18-34 years old) — just 20% of whom view Biden favorably on Israel's war on Hamas — Biden (42%) trails Trump (46%) by 4 points, which is outside the poll's margin of error.
"This could be a massive sea change," according to NBC News poll analyst Steve Kornacki, who noted Biden was plus-26 points on younger voters in 2020.
Unable to change the reality of an 81-year-old incumbent who will be 82 if he were to win next November, Democrats want to focus on the narrative of "wisdom."
"You cannot roll back time," Florida attorney and Biden bundler John Morgan told Politico. "There's nothing that can be done to make him younger,
"I believe that what's going to carry the day for Joe Biden is the word 'wisdom.' We want wise men. And what I would say to everybody who has a problem with his age, I would just tell them that if you had stopped investing with Warren Buffett when he was 80, you would have missed out on 12 years of record returns."
But Trump argues it is not that Biden is old, but that he is "incompetent."
Democrats and Biden voters are getting a first-hand look at election consequences, Trump warned a Fort Dodge, Iowa, campaign event Saturday, as two wars are raging in Ukraine and Gaza and world leaders are showing no respect for Biden.
"They're dealing with very stupid people," Trump said of those leaders, including some he praised as "smart" even if dictators. "Our leader is a stupid person.
"He's the most incompetent president we've ever had. He's the worst president we've ever had. He's a total crook.
"We have a president who's very corrupt, and he's being controlled by a number of countries."
Ultimately, Biden's campaign has to go to the well with the young voters he is losing, and Biden campaign spokesman Kevin Munoz vowed to The Wall Street Journal that they would "meet younger Americans where they are and earn their votes."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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