A majority of Americans said they were concerned about President Joe Biden’s mental health, a poll has found.
The series of mistakes made by the 79-year-old Democrat in speeches, awkward moments and some missteps (notably stumbling when boarding the presidential Air Force One plane) alarmed the majority of American citizens and even those around them.
Concern mounts as November’s general election approaches and Democrats must find the ideal candidate to keep the White House in the party’s hands.
According to the Issues & Insights/TIPP poll, 59% of respondents said they were “concerned” about the president’s mental health, 36% said they were “very concerned” and 23% said they were “somewhat concerned.”
Only 39% (four out of 10) said calmly: “You’re not very worried” (18%), “You’re not worried at all” (21%) and the remaining 2% answered that “They’re not sure are “On the Powers of the President.
The poll results revealed a deep chasm along party lines.
Just 39% of Biden Democrats said they were “concerned,” while 82% of Republicans and 56% of independents said the same.
Factors such as gender and age had almost no impact on respondents’ opinions, with 59 percent of men and women expressing concern about Biden’s mental health.
39% of men and 38% of women said they were not worried.
Filtered by race and ethnicity, the poll results found that 61% of Hispanics and 63% of white Americans were concerned about Biden’s mental health, but only 44% of black Americans shared this opinion.
Broken down by age, the poll results showed that 59% of 18-24 year olds, 62% of 25-44 year olds, 57% of 45-64 year olds and 56% of those over 65 were concerned about Biden’s condition .
“The fact is, based on this survey data, virtually every group has serious concerns about Biden’s cognitive health,” wrote Terry Jones, editor of Issues & Insights.
“It’s taken on political urgency with the upcoming 2022 midterm elections that could well turn Biden into a lame duck if Republicans prevail,” Jones said.
The survey was conducted online over two days in early August among 1,355 adults across the country.
It has an error rate of 2.8% of polls.
As the poll was released, Biden was filmed in the last few hours attempting to put on his jacket and drop his signature aviator sunglasses as he returned from a trip to Kentucky to survey the damage caused by the recent floods.
Other recent presidential gaffes include his testimony that the 2018 mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, took place in 1918.