American voters are worried about re-electing Joe Biden because it would be like giving ‘grandpa a high-stress job for six more years,’ a CNN political commentator said on Thursday.
Van Jones, who worked in the Obama White House when Biden was vice president, was asked about a new CNN poll which puts Biden neck-and-neck with all the Republican challengers except Nikki Haley, who is beating him.
Jones said Biden’s low approval rating of just 39 percent was a reflection of concerns about his advancing years.
‘They worry about Joe Biden,’ Jones said about the voters.
‘Joe Biden’s like that grandpa that you love, that you believe in.’
‘But you start to wonder, you know, would you give this grandpa a high-stress job for six more years or would you want something else for him?’
CNN pundit Van Jones said on Thursday that voters were worried about Joe Biden’s age
A new CNN poll shows Biden trailing Trump, Pence, Scott, Ramaswamy, Christie, and Haley, and tied with DeSantis
Voters continue to register deep concerns about Biden and his age in particular.
The CNN poll shows 73 percent seriously concerned about his mental competence and 76 percent concerned about his ability to serve out his four-year term if he is reelected.
Two-thirds of Democrats, or 67 percent, say the party should nominate someone besides Biden, up from 54 percent in March.
Both Biden and Trump are at 35 percent favorability.
The poll comes as Biden prepares to fly to India for a meeting of world leaders at the G20 summit.
Jones noted the election is still more than a year away, and the current low poll numbers ‘may be the bottom for Joe Biden.’
But, Jones said, the improving economic data was not being felt by voters.
‘He may go up as the economy improves, but right now, the economy is getting better and fears about the economy are getting worse,’ he said.
‘We’ve got to be honest as Democrats that there’s real pain out there at the base of our party.
‘People still don’t feel these [economic] policies yet, and we’re gonna have to make the case stronger.’
Jones was asked by co-host Poppy Harlow about former Obama aide Jim Messina, who told Politico Playbook that Democrats were ‘f****** bedwetters’ for panicking about the polling.
Jones said Messina was wrong, and the polling needed to be taken seriously.
‘If Jim Messina says that we’re bedwetters, invest in Pampers and Depends because a lot of people are terrified that Joe Biden is in real trouble – and that you can’t talk about it,’ said Jones.
Biden finds himself in close races with the entire GOP field, according to a new CNN poll. He trails Donald Trump by 1 percentage point, and Nikki Haley by 6
Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor, has been leading attacks on Biden’s age. She has the biggest lead over Biden of all the potential Republican nominees
In the CNN poll Biden narrowly trails Trump, the Republican frontrunner, 47 to 46.
That is in keeping with polling averages like one by RealClearPolitics, which has Biden leading Trump by 1 percentage point.
Other Republican contenders run slightly better in head-to-head matchups, although, like Trump, those who hold leads are within the poll’s 3.5 percent margin of error, signifying a close race.
The exception is Haley, who leads Biden 49 to 43 percent.
Haley, 51, has been leading attacks on Biden’s age, saying the 80-year-old president isn’t fit and won’t stay alive through 2028.
Biden is tied with Florida governor Ron DeSantis at 47; trails former Vice President Mike Pence 46 to 44; and trails Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina 46 to 44.
Newcomer and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy leads Biden 46 to 45, and former New Jersey governor Chris Christie leads Biden 44 to 42, in a poll of registered voters.
The gaps are similar between those who vociferously defend Trump, like Ramaswamy; DeSantis, who said he would consider pardoning Jan. 6 defendants; and Pence and Christie, who have criticized Trump over his election overturn effort.
Former President Donald Trump leads President Biden 47 to 46 in a new CNN poll
Haley doesn’t perform well against fellow Republicans in the polls, however. She is at just 6 percent in the RealClearPolitics average.
‘We all know Joe Biden thinks he’s going to run and win this election and then he’s going to hand it off to a president Kamala Harris,’ Haley claimed on Fox News on Wednesday night.
She said she would ‘stomp all over Joe Biden’ in a matchup.
‘Everybody really needs to know this is me running against Kamala Harris for president,’ she added.
Trump’s continued performance in polls could undercut opponents who say he isn’t as electable as they are due to his multiple indictments and criminal trials.
