Old. Confused. Corrupt. Dishonest.
Those are among the top terms Americans use when they’re asked to describe President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, the Republican best positioned to face him in next year’s election.
Unflattering portraits of both emerge clearly in a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, which asked an open-ended question about what comes to mind when people think of them.
For Mr Biden, the largest share of US adults — including both Democrats and Republicans — mentioned his age. At 80, the Democratic president is just three years older than Mr Trump, but many Americans expressed real concerns about his ability to continue as president.
Mr Trump, meanwhile, has been indicted in four cases featuring 91 total criminal counts and elicits words such as “corrupt” and “crooked” (named by 15 per cent), along with “bad” and other generally negative comments (11 per cent). Not far behind are words like “liar” and “dishonest” (8 per cent). Another 8 per cent offered generally positive comments like “good,” though.
A deeper look doesn’t improve things much for Mr Biden or Mr Trump. And while many of the criticisms reflect a familiar partisan divide, the poll shows neither man is immune to criticism from within his own party.
“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, said of Mr Biden. He was even more negative about Mr Trump, though, saying that the former president “acts like a kindergartner when people tell him ‘no.’”
Mr Campbell suggested that Mr Trump reads so little about policy and national security that he might be “functionally illiterate.” He said he plans to vote for Mr Biden next year and, “I eagerly await Donald Trump being in jail.”
Such sentiments were common. Fully 26 per cent of respondents use words like “old” or “outdated” to describe Mr Biden, and another 15 per cent mention things like “slow” and “confused.”
Another 10 per cent give generally negative comments about the president, and 6 per cent use words like “corrupt” and “crooked.” Just 6 per cent offer words like “president” and “leader,” and 5 per cent use those like “strong” and “capable” — the top positive comments made about Mr Biden.
Mr Biden's age was referenced frequently even among Democrats, 28 per cent of whom mention it — a significantly higher percentage than those who point to the presidency or leadership (11 per cent) or strength and capability (11 per cent).
Mr Trump's negative comments center not on age but on his moral standing and conduct, along with things like “loudmouth” and “angry” (6 per cent), “crazy” and “dangerous” (6 per cent) and “narcissist” (6 per cent). Some 5 per cent use words like “strong” and “capable.”
Rami Marsha, a 58-year-old CEO of a manufacturing company in Agoura Hills, California, is a registered Democrat who voted for Mr Trump in 2016 and for Mr Biden in 2020 — but says he'd likely leave the presidential race portion of his ballot blank if those two square off again in 2024.
“I think he might be having some dementia, and I don’t think he has the power to run the country,” Mr Marsha said of Mr Biden. But he was equally blunt about Mr Trump: “I’ve had enough of him.”
That's a fairly common sentiment. The poll shows that only 24 per cent of Americans overall want to see Mr Biden run again, while 30 per cent say the same about Trump — and majorities say they are reluctant to support them if they are nominated again.
Also, 62 per cent of Americans say they have an unfavorable opinion of Mr Trump; 52 per cent say the same about Mr Biden.
Mr Biden’s reelection campaign said the president's age is not a top motivator for voters, especially compared to the administration’s policy accomplishments or key issues like abortion. It also noted that perceptions of the president and Democrats were not strong before last year’s midterms — only to have the party defy expectations.
A Trump campaign spokesman did not answer messages seeking comment, but the former president has previously used his indictments to go on the political offensive, telling supporters at rallies, “I'm being indicted for you.”
Larry Haith, a 73-year-old Idahoan and retired president and general manager of an auto parts firm, is a Republican who described Mr Biden for the poll as an “idiot” and called Mr Trump “arrogant.” He said he doesn't plan on voting for either next year.
Mr Haith blamed Mr Biden’s economic policies for his cash net worth declining at least about $150,000 and said the president “just needs to retire and get on with it."
Though he had some kind words for Mr Trump, Mr Haith was also critical of the former president.
“I really like what he did, and I like the decisions that he made," said Mr Haith, who added that, at first, ”I really liked that gruffness about him." But those feelings have cooled, he said, in part because Mr Trump has what Mr Haith described as “a typical New York, arrogant attitude.”
“I’m not going to support him anymore,” he said. “I’m done with him.”
Annie Doerr, a 60-year-old retiree from suburban Atlanta who described herself as a moderate Republican, said of Mr Trump, “I thought some of his policies were good for Americans, but he’s just too much of a distraction.”
Ms Doerr had problems with the president, too, comparing him to what she had seen while caring for her 95-year-old father.
“He reminded me a lot of Biden, just things that come out of (Biden's) mouth,” Ms Doerr said.
“I just don’t think he’s fit to be president for four more years," she added. ”He may have been when he first ran, but not now.”
The poll also illustrated familiar ideological divides. It found that Republicans are more likely than Democrats to use words like “slow” and “confused” to describe Mr Biden, 25 per cent to 7 per cent, as well as words like “corrupt” and “crooked” (14 per cent to 0 per cent) and “weak” or “unqualified” (9 per cent to 2 per cent).
For Mr Trump, meanwhile, the top comments among Republicans include the generally positive (15 per cent) along with things like “strong” (11 per cent) and mentions of America or patriotism (8 per cent), along with mentions of the presidency or leadership (6 per cent).
Even some Republicans use negative words to describe Mr Trump, though, including labels such as “loudmouth” or “angry" (7 per cent). Others mentioned arrogance or pompousness (6 per cent), narcissism (5 per cent) or other generally negative comments (6 per cent).
Democrats are more likely than Republicans to cite corruption (25 per cent to 4 per cent) and dishonesty (12 per cent to 4 per cent) to describe Mr Trump. Seven per cent of Democrats mention racism, bigotry, homophobia or misogyny among their top words to describe the former president. Those words were hardly invoked by any Republicans in the poll.
Susan Grant, a 66-year-old retired office manager for a nonprofit physician membership association from Westfield, Indiana, said she sees Mr Biden as “very weak” and doesn’t agree with his policies. Mr Trump, meanwhile, is “extremely divisive, and I think that's bad for our country."
“There’s this whole thing, in the Bible, ‘A house divided against itself cannot stand,’ and all of the division that has just been promoted and pushed is just damaging to our country,” Ms Grant said. “I’m very conservative with values, with economic things. But, personally, I don’t think Trump’s a very good person."
Ms Grant described herself as a “hold your nose" Trump voter twice before. If he's the GOP nominee against Mr Biden, she said, “I probably would do it a third time. But I would not be happy."
“I’m also wondering if it's what we need for a third party,” Ms Grant said. "Maybe it’s the push. I don’t know.”
