Status: 11/20/2022 3:55 PM
US President Biden celebrates his 80th birthday. It is not yet clear whether he will run for a second term in 2024. He himself is optimistic, but many Democrat supporters want a younger candidate.
Joe Biden has his most loyal fans where he was born, in the small town of Scranton in the state of Pennsylvania. Jimmy Connors, former mayor of Scranton, is an old friend:
We love Joe here. And first of all, we love Joe because he’s a very different person than Donald Trump. Scranton people are friendly. When Joe Biden deals with people, he comes from the heart. private and political. For example, he brought NATO together because he knows the other heads of government, he called them and talked to them face to face. That’s what’s special about him.
Joe Biden celebrates his 80th birthday on November 20 without too much pomp, in the family circle. And maybe even then discuss the topic that moves the audience the most: Will he compete again? He himself said the day after the midterm congressional elections, referring to his wife Jill:
Our intention is to compete again. This has always been our intention. We will take our time to think about it and will probably make a final decision early next year.
Just before the midterm exam, Biden was asked on broadcaster CBS what he replies to people who think he’s too old: “Look at me. That’s all I think: look at me.” To then fall into one of those Biden phrases that are lost in an incomprehensible way: “In the end it depends on how much energy you have. That you do the job as well as someone of any other age would do it”.
The public is skeptical
Born in Scranton, like Biden, is the political scientist and pollster Christopher Borick. What do you think, after Donald Trump tosses his hat back in the ring, will Joe Biden compete again? “I have a feeling neither of them are going to go on the ballot ultimately,” Borick says. “Both are in their 80s, Trump is 76. And the American public is skeptical of both political camps and doesn’t really want that.”
In a poll conducted by CNN on the day of the midterm elections, 67 percent of all voters said they did not want Biden as a candidate again. One of Borick’s students, Alex Wagner, has just campaigned for the Democrats. He tells Biden:
He’s too old. I voted for him in 2020, mostly to prevent Trump. He had good times. But now I’d like to see someone younger.
A case of age discrimination?
Stuart Olshansky, an age researcher at the University of Illinois, says this ageism needs to stop. From a scientific point of view, Biden belongs to the group of “super agers”: “These people are truly extraordinary, they lead very healthy, active, productive lives, often over 90”.
At the end of the CBS interview, when asked how he was feeling, Biden himself said with a laugh, “Concentrated.”
Joe Biden turns 80: will he compete again?
Ralf Borchard, ARD Washington, 2022-11-20 15:04
