Older voters have thoughts on whether Biden's up to the job
Consider This from NPR
NPR
4.2 • 6.2K Ratings
🗓️ 12 July 2024
⏱️ 12 minutes
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Summary
They're worried he's too old for a second term, and too vulnerable to losing to Trump.
President Biden rejects those calls. He believes he can withstand a bruising campaign, win re-election, and lead the country for four more years.
Last fall, Consider This host Scott Detrow traveled to western Pennsylvania — a key swing state — where he gathered a group of voters all around the same age as Biden and Trump, to talk about how they viewed age in the race.
This week, Detrow checked back in with some of them to see if recent events have changed how this group of key voters are thinking about President Biden.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Just after the conclusion of this week's NATO summit in Washington, President Biden held a rare solo press conference. |
| 0:06.2 | The questions were not just about foreign policy. |
| 0:09.4 | You earlier explained confidence in your vice president. |
| 0:13.6 | Yes. |
| 0:14.6 | If your team came back and showed you data that she would fare better against |
| 0:18.4 | former president Donald Trump, would you reconsider your decision to stay in the race? |
| 0:24.0 | No, unless they came back and said, |
| 0:26.2 | there's no way you could win. |
| 0:29.5 | Me? |
| 0:31.4 | No one's saying that. No poll says that. |
| 0:34.0 | In the weeks since Biden's disastrous performance in the presidential debate, |
| 0:39.0 | a steady drip of high-profile supporters. |
| 0:42.0 | Everyone from members of Congress to big donors like George |
| 0:44.6 | Clooney has urged him to step aside. They're worried he's too old for a second term, |
| 0:49.6 | too vulnerable to losing to Trump. But the polls haven't really shifted all that much |
| 0:55.0 | and Biden is digging in. |
| 0:57.0 | I'm in this to complete the job I started. |
| 0:59.0 | I did this painful thing tonight |
| 1:01.0 | because for me, the answer to that is I just don't |
| 1:03.7 | see that trajectory I don't see the numbers shortly after that press conference |
| 1:07.6 | Connecticut representative Jim Himes added his name to the list of Democrats who have |
| 1:11.7 | publicly called for |
... |
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