Voters Had Issues With Biden’s Age Long Before The Debate. That’s Why Democrats Are Worried.
HuffPost
But the Biden campaign is highlighting how little has changed.
A few days before the debate that upended President Joe Biden’s presidency, a Democratic pollster conducted an online focus group of swing voters in a Midwestern battleground state.
The first question asked for the word or phrase that “immediately comes up when you think of President Biden.”
In the public opinion exercise reviewed by HuffPost, the vast majority of the participants responded by referring negatively to either Biden’s advanced age or his mental acuity and competence.
One respondent used the word “incompetent.” Asked to explain what made them feel that way, they cited interviews in which Biden seemed “incoherent.”
The Democratic pollster, who requested anonymity for professional reasons, had been seeing the same response for months, like clockwork. While inflation and cost-of-living concerns were the top issues hurting Biden with these voters, it was difficult to separate those worries from the lack of confidence in Biden’s mental and physical abilities as a leader.