President Joe Biden is “old” and “confused” — but you don’t need to take our word for it.
Those are just the top terms that Americans use when they’re asked to describe the Democrat in the White House.
Between Aug. 10 and 14, pollsters at AP-NORC surveyed 1,165 Americans, a sample “designed to be representative.” In the end, they found some bad news for the president.
For Biden, the largest share of U.S. adults — including both Democrats and Republicans — mentioned his age.
15 percent called him “bumbling,” “slow,” “confused,” “idiot,” “ignorant,” “sleepy,” or prone to many a “gaffe.”
“He looks like he needs to be someone’s kindly grandpa on the arm, not someone at the wheel of power,” Justin Campbell, a 27-year-old Democrat and security guard in the Brookhaven area of Mississippi, told the Associated Press.
Such sentiments were common. Fully 26% of respondents use words like “old” or “outdated” to describe Biden, and another 15% mention things like “slow” and “confused.”
Another 10% give generally negative comments about the president, and 6% use words like “corrupt” and “crooked.” Just 6% offer words like “president” and “leader,” and 5% use those like “strong” and “capable” — the top positive comments made about Biden.
Biden’s age was referenced frequently even among Democrats, 28% of whom mention it — a significantly higher percentage than those who point to the presidency or leadership (11%) or strength and capability (11%).
Susan Grant, a 66-year-old retired office manager for a nonprofit physician membership association from Westfield, Indiana, said, “While I respect Biden, I think he’s too old.”
“I do feel like he’s at the age where he probably needs to not run,” Grant, a Republican, told the outlet. “I’m not saying he’s not able. But, overall, I would like to see younger people running for president.”
The poll also asked about former President Donald Trump, the top rival to Biden in the upcoming election.
Trump is 77, only slightly younger than Biden.
However, Democrats hardly mentioned Trump’s age when asked their opinions of him. Rather, the poll respondents used words like “loudmouth” and “angry” (6% of Americans), “crazy” and “dangerous” (6%) and “narcissist” (6%). Some 5% use words like “strong” and “capable.”
The Horn editorial team and the Associated Press contributed to this article.