David Axelrod, who once served as an adviser to former President Barack Obama, said Joe Biden's age will be a "major issue" for him if he seeks a second term in 2024.
“The presidency is a monstrously taxing job and the stark reality is the president would be closer to 90 than 80 at the end of a second term, and that would be a major issue,”Mr Axelrod told the New York Times.
Mr Axelrod was one of 50 Democrat officials interviewed by the Times over their "frustrations" about Mr Biden.
Unsurprisingly, the Democrats interviewed were concerned with the prospect of a rematch between Mr Biden and former President Donald Trump in 2024.
Mr Axelrod was complimentary of Mr Biden, but noted that many of his accomplishments have been overshadowed by a narrative that his age has impaired his ability to govern effectively.
“Biden doesn’t get the credit he deserves for steering the country through the worst of the pandemic, passing historic legislation, pulling the NATO alliance together against Russian aggression and restoring decency and decorum to the White House,” Mr Axelrod said. “And part of the reason he doesn’t is performative. He looks his age and isn’t as agile in front of a camera as he once was, and this has fed a narrative about competence that isn’t rooted in reality.”
Mr Biden's approval rating is extremely low, thanks in part to inflation putting stress on a still financially recovering US public, and due to perceived failures of his administration to govern. While Mr Axelrod correctly outlined the administration's achievements, it is also true that Mr Biden and his allies have been thwarted on major legislative goals due to their inability to bring individuals like Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema to heel.
Further burdening Mr Biden — though not necessarily his fault — is the perception that at a time when Democrats control the House, the Senate and the Oval Office, Republicans have been successful in passing voter restriction laws, laws effectively targeting the rights of LGBT people, and in blocking meaningful gun regulation, at least thus far, at the state level.
The leaking of a Supreme Court draft decision suggesting the court is ready to overturn Roe V Wade later this year adds an extra feeling that — even though Democratic voters did their duty and voted in Mr Biden — it did little to stop their rights from being stripped away.
If Mr Biden does not run again in 2024, it's unclear exactly who would become the frontrunner for the Democrats. Vice President Kamala Harris would be the obvious choice, though Democratic aides and strategists have gone on record in other outlets voicing their doubts about Ms Harris's chances in a 2024 race against Mr Trump or Republican Governor Ron DeSantis.
Senator Bernie Sanders – who himself is 80 years old – has also said he would consider running again if Mr Biden chooses not to run, but he would face the same obstacle he faced in his previous two runs; adamant opposition from establishment Democrats. The rift between progressive Democrats and establishment Democrats has not improved since Mr Biden took office, with both sides blaming each other for the party's failures.
More concerning than who the Democrats run in 2024 is the continually rising distrust in the government and, as a result, the efficacy of voting at all. A recent Pew Research poll found that trust in the government has fallen to a historic low, a trend that began most recently in the middle of former President George W Bush's administration and has continued through the Trump and Biden administrations. Less than a quarter of the country believes they can trust the government "at least most of the time," according to the poll.
