A new video shows President Joe Biden stumbling on stairs while boarding Air Force One.
The president’s age has become a focal point of concern among American voters in anticipation of his expected rematch with Republican front runner Donald Trump. Biden, who is 81 years of age and will turn 82 about two weeks after the November election, has faced an onslaught of criticism by Republicans, Democrats and independents based on his age and whether he is fit to serve another four-year term.
Approximately 86 percent of Americans think Biden is too old to serve another term as president, according to an ABC News/Ipsos poll published earlier this month. The same poll found that about 59 percent of Americans think both he and Trump, 77, are too old to run for office. Almost half of registered U.S. voters believe Biden could still be replaced as the Democratic nominee for president on the November ballot, according to a Monmouth University poll published last week.
VIGOR: Biden almost trips (twice) as he boards Air Force One — despite using the short stairs to avoid tripping pic.twitter.com/CkoLnwLV2q
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) February 20, 2024
The video was posted online by the X account RNC Research, which is managed by the Republican National Committee. It has been viewed over 58,000 times as of publication, noting that the president used the short stairs.
The post reads: “Biden almost trips (twice) as he boards Air Force One—despite using the short stairs to avoid tripping.”
Biden stumbling on stairs has captured attention throughout his presidency. His latest fall came just hours after Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley called out Biden and former President Donald Trump for their age.
“Trump and Biden are two old men who are only getting older. Nearly 60 percent of Americans say Trump and Biden are both too old to be president. Because they are,” Haley said in a Tuesday speech.
After tripping on a sandbag during the Air Force Academy commencement, Biden started using the shorter staircase to board Air Force One. Compared to the 18-foot staircase that can be wobbly, the shorter staircase mitigates the risk of Biden falling and creating a spectacle. Biden’s use of the shorter staircase hasn’t gone unnoticed and the shift has called attention to his age, although not everyone is convinced it will matter to voters.
“You don’t measure presidents by their ability to navigate steps,” David Axelrod, who was Obama’s chief strategist, told NPR in August. “You elect presidents based on their ability to navigate problems.”
Biden’s fall on Tuesday also comes in the wake of special counsel Robert Hur calling the president an “elderly man.” Hur concluded Biden did not have a “mental state of willfulness” after interviewing him and decided not to indict him because they didn’t believe a jury would convict him.
The report’s done the president no favors in battling attacks on his age and has sparked calls for him to step aside and allow someone else to represent Democrats during the presidential election.
U.S. President Joe Biden on February 20, 2024, in Washington, D.C. Biden was mocked by the Republican National Committee in a post on X, in which he stumbled while climbing the stairs onto Air Force…
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Source: Newsweek