Age and health concerns of Joe Biden

At 81 years, 8 months, 2 days of age, Joe Biden, the 46th president of the United States, is the oldest sitting president in United States history. Republican president Donald Trump and mass media raised concerns about his age, including his cognitive state, during and after the 2020 United States presidential election. These concerns increased after a poor performance by Biden during a debate against Trump in the 2024 presidential election, which led a number of commentators and some Democratic lawmakers to call for Biden to drop out of the 2024 presidential race. He later withdrew his candidacy.

Background
In 2018, when Biden was considering running for president, he consulted with friends, aides and longtime supporters as to whether he was too old to seek the presidency. By 2019, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Politico, CNN, The Atlantic, the Associated Press, and Slate all published articles on Biden's age and fitness for office. That year, in advance of the 2020 United States presidential election, many of his Democratic opponents used his age against Biden, who was 76 at the time. Biden supporters criticized this as ageist discrimination. According to ABC News, Vladimir Putin and the Russian government spread disinformation about Biden's mental health during the 2020 presidential election, and the Department of Homeland Security withheld publication of a bulletin warning law enforcement agencies about this campaign. During and in the years since the 2020 presidential campaign, Trump has claimed, without evidence, that Biden has dementia, calling him "Sleepy Joe" at rallies. This angle has remained popular among right-wing media outlets. On a couple of occasions during the 2020 campaign Biden called himself a "bridge candidate", leading some to believe he would not seek a second term. The Biden administration has routinely aimed to make light of the president's age by poking fun and joking about it. This approach has been met with both praise and mockery. The Biden administration has also been criticized for allegedly gaslighting or harassing journalists who asked questions about Biden's health or age.

In 2022, a New York Times–Siena College poll found that 61% of Democratic voters wanted someone other than Biden to be the presidential nominee, citing his age as the main concern. Biden's aides dismissed age-related concerns as politically motivated attacks by Republicans. James Carville, Ezra Klein, and the Economist called for Biden to not run again as early as 2022.

According to Biden's 2023 annual physical examination, he is in good health for a man of his age. Biden is on medication for non-valvular atrial fibrillation (a form of irregular heartbeat), has a mild sensory peripheral neuropathy, and has a stiff gait due to spinal arthritis and the aftereffects of injury. No signs of cognitive decline or dementia were noted.

According to a 2024 poll, Biden's age and health are major or moderate concerns for 86% of voters generally, up from 76% earlier in 2024. According to another 2024 poll, most of those who voted for Biden in 2020 say they believe he is too old to be an effective president; The New York Times noted that these concerns "cut across generations, gender, race and education". The Wall Street Journal has reported that since 2023 or earlier, Biden's team has limited his schedule, personal interactions, media appearances, interviews, and unscripted exchanges in order to minimize concerns about his age and mental acuity.

February 2024
Upon concluding the investigation into Biden's handling of classified documents, special counsel Robert Hur suggested that Biden would be able to present himself to a jury as an "elderly man with poor memory" and wrote that his memory "appeared to have significant limitations". White House lawyers disputed this characterization and Biden rejected the claim in a televised press conference on the day the special counsel's report was released, though during the conference he referred to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi as the President of Mexico.

Jon Stewart raised concerns about his age in his Daily Show return in mid-February.

June 2024 debate
On June 27, 2024, Biden took part in the first presidential debate. The debate reinforced concerns about Biden's age, with Biden appearing confused and disoriented during its first half, giving meandering answers to questions, particularly on health policy. The New York Times reporter Reid Epstein wondered whether voters would see him as someone physically able to run the country, even if they preferred his policies to Trump's. Some Democrats were unsure whether he should continue his campaign. Many officials and foreign leaders who encountered Biden in the months or year preceding the debate noticed he was increasingly frail, tired, meandering, and less lucid in his speech. In many parts of Europe, this led to concern about a second Trump presidency. Biden declined to undergo a cognitive exam such as the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, saying that he has "a cognitive test every single day" in performing his presidential duties. It later emerged that a neurologist specializing in Parkinson's disease had met this year with Physician to the President Kevin O'Connor; O'Connor and the White House both said Biden was not being treated for the disease and that other officials use O'Connor as their physician.

COVID-19 diagnosis
On July 17, Biden tested positive for COVID-19. He experienced mild symptoms, including a cough, runny nose, and "general malaise". However, images of him looking frail exiting from Air Force One on the way to isolation fuelled further speculation on Biden's health.