Jay Weber Show transcript 9-19-23 8:30am
Here’s a new measure of how feeble the American people believe Joe Biden is: two in three say he wouldn’t make it to the end of a second term.
According to a YouGov poll of registered voters done for CBS- just 34 percent of respondents say they-do think- Biden to make it thru a full second term...so that’s 66 percent who don’t -and that includes 65 percent of the democrats that they polled.
Given that Donald Trump is at least a few years younger and seems far more vigorous and ‘with it’ still- only 55 percent of respondents expect that trump would make it thru a second term.
He’s 76 .He’d be 81 by the end of his second term. He’s showing no signs of cognitive decline. And still- only a little more than half of voters think he’d serve all four years before getting sick or dying.
This was a huge sample of over 4-thousand voters, too. This poll has the race tied, with trump up by a single point- 50 to 49. And that’s without any other third-party candidates included in the question.
For example-Cornell West is getting two percent in most polls-those voters would come from Biden-and because the DNC is treating him so terribly-Robert Kennedy is threatening to run third party.
Then there’s still the whole ‘Joe Manchin/ no labels party’ threat out there-
And any third-party candidate in the swing states would be trouble for Biden, rather than Trump.
And then there’s this-which speaks to voter motivations and enthusiasm. This same YouGov poll found:
Poll: 34% of voters think Biden would complete 2nd term if re-elected
Sometimes- voting against someone is the stronger motivation for voters...but in general...most people want to vote ‘for someone’, not against someone.
But the results show that Donald Trump has an ‘age’ problem, too, and that’s why having him as a candidate will be giving up one of the best arguments the republicans have against Joe Biden: that 80 is too old to do this job. That Joe Biden just proved it. And that these baby boomers need to get the hell off the stage and out of Washington, already...
That is a powerful argument and at a time in which Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis and others are making it on the stump-
Donald trump is going out of his way to say Joe Biden-is not- too old to be president.
You might have heard this clip from last week: the one in which trump told Megan Kelly...it’s not joe Biden’s age, it’s his incompetence. He’s terrible at this.
Trump said he knows other 80-year-olds who still have all their faculties. They’re as sharp as ever. Biden’s lost it-and is displaying an incompetence that disqualifies him for a second term. It’s not his age, per say.
And of course, Donald Trump needs to say that-because he’s nearly as old. ‘age’ will be an issue for him, too, if the democrats wise up and make someone else their nominee.
And so-Trump can’t admit Biden’s too old for this job.
I’ve talked about what a contrast a 45- or 50-year-old, younger, more vibrant, more articulate and sharper Ron DeSantis or Nikki Haley would be- up against Biden.
Instead- 60 percent of the grassroots seems to be-only-interest in trump for ’24.
We have numerous surveys now that show 75 to 77 percent of Americans say joe Biden is too old, at 80, to do this job. Okay....so...if Biden drops out...does that sentiment go away?
Evaporate?
Not likely: the country just saw an 80-year-old man try to do this job, and a younger democrat would flip it around and say ‘Trump isn’t any younger than Biden is...and you wanted Biden out due to his age’...
If Biden drops out- trust me- the democrats will flip the age issue around on Donald Trump to make it stick-even though they pretended that Biden wasn’t too old to do the job. Right up until the moment he dropped out.
If Biden and Trump-do- face each other in the general election-Biden’s age is still an issue. At least his obvious infirmities are. Right?
But if he drops out-Trump can easily be portrayed as the grumpy old man- yelling at the kids- who just doesn’t know when it’s time to go away.
And you can bet the dems will use that.
Moreover- given how the tides have turned against Kamala Harris on her own side of the aisle- we can’t even rest assured that -if Biden drops out-Trump would be facing Kammy.
I don’t know how old Kamala Harris is. When you’re that dumb and incompetent age really doesn’t matter-
And I have no doubt that Donald Trump could beat Kamala Harris, as the ‘younger candidate’. But any other young, popular democrat is much more of a wild card-and probably beats trump.
It’s one reason that so many democrat strategists and insiders are struggling with the question of: if we can get Biden to drop out- how do we shove Kamala Harris out of the way, too?
It has become clear that-very few. Very few- democrats are feeling the need to defend or promote Kamala Harris as the back-up to Biden.
Last week, both Nancy Pelosi and Jamie Raskin went out of their way- not to- support Harris on the ticket next year-even as VP.
story credit: Axios
photo credit: Getty Images