Pollster Nate Silver warned Democrats and the "expert class" that President Biden’s distinction as the oldest-serving president in history at age 80 is a source of "valid concern" for voters.
"If the expert class doesn’t understand that Biden’s age is both a real concern for voters and a valid concern, they’d better be prepared for getting a second Trump term instead," Silver wrote in an analysis piece on Sunday.
"This election is probably going to be close, and [former President] Trump might be only one Biden-has-a-McConnell-moment away from winning," he added.
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Recent polling from AP-NORC, Silver wrote, indicate that Americans overall are far more concerned about Biden’s age than Trump's, even when weighed against partisan political divisions. Trump turned 77 in June, while Biden will turn 81 in November.
"[T]he differences can’t entirely be chalked up to partisanship — 74 percent of independents also said that Biden was too old, while just 48 percent said that of Trump," he wrote.
Silver, who is also a trained statistician, argued that even numbers on death show that Biden is at higher risk than Trump. "By age 78 —Trump’s age in 2025 — the risk has roughly doubled to 4.9 percent," Silver wrote, referring to risk of death. "At 82 — Biden’s age if he’s reinaugurated in 2025 — it’s increased further to 7.3 percent. And the risk of dying is 11.0 percent by age 86, which would be Biden’s age at the end of his second term."
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Silver defended voters for "diagnosing the candidates" based on data and their own experiences because "it’s hardly crazy for them to think the age gap between Biden and Trump is relevant."
"For me personally, I’d draw the line younger than both of them," Silver wrote of Biden and Trump. One of the most visible consequences of a rapidly aging political class, Silver wrote, was Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell "repeatedly freezing up during press conferences" and Democratic Sen. Diane Feinstein's "manifestly diminished capacities."
McConnell has faced multiple calls to step down after he froze up for a second time in public during a recent press conference in Kentucky. The long-standing GOP lawmaker previously froze for about 30 seconds in July during a news conference alongside other Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.
Feinstein, who is 90, has battled health issues and shown visible signs of confusion, once allegedly telling a reporter that she hadn't "been gone" after a three-month absence from Congress.
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Biden, who has known McConnell for decades as a former Senate colleague, told reporters last week that he had checked on him and said his friend sounded like "his old self" on the phone.
Fox News' Jessica Chasmar and Adam Sabes contributed to this report.
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