In order to win, Joe Biden and Donald Trump need to capture some of the people in the middle, while holding onto as many folks in their camps as they can.
The problem for Biden is that people see there’s a big problem with his competency and it seems to be getting worse. I wrote on Monday about Biden responding to a question at an AFL-CIO virtual event where he wasn’t able to respond because the teleprompter with his prepared answer wasn’t scrolling up for him to see and then it was clear he was reading the answer to the question. Biden also just looked horrible and seemed to be breathing heavily, on top of it all.
People are seeing it and it’s affecting their vote, as one poll indicated even in June, according to Zogby Analytics.
A majority (55%) of likely voters surveyed thought it was more likely (much more and somewhat more likely combined) that Vice President Biden is in the early stages of dementia, while 45% thought it was less likely (much less and somewhat less likely combined). Overall, subgroups who normally approve of Trump’s job as president, were the most likely to believe Biden could be suffering from dementia. Thus, majorities of Republicans (77% more likely/23% less likely) and Independents (56% more likely/44% less likely) thought Joe Biden had early-onset dementia; while nearly a third of Democrats (32% more likely/68% less likely) thought this was the case
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump tweeted out a clip from Joe Rogan’s podcast. In it, Rogan was saying that Joe Biden wasn’t going to make it as president.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 8, 2020
“Biden, to me, is like having a flashlight with a dying battery, and going for a long hike in the woods. It is not going to work out,” Rogan said to guest Matt Taibbi. “It’s not going to make it.”
Rogan is not necessarily saying he’s voting for Trump. He’s a good example of that independent voter both candidates need to sway. But it’s clear he doesn’t think people should be voting for Biden because he thinks Biden’s in the throes of dementia, so he’s in line with a majority of Americans who think Joe has it. Trump in tweeting him is pretty much saying, “See, it’s not just me saying it” and it’s not just GOP types saying it, it’s non-affiliate people looking at Biden and rationally seeing a big problem.
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