A new poll from AP-NORC, which the legacy wire service that began using new telegraph technology in 1846 to share stories among publications described as showing voters link Biden to "old" and Trump to "corrupt," actually links both candidates to both, but by far different percentages.
The poll was done Aug. 10-14 and online and telephone interviews reached 1,165 adults.
First on the issue of age, 77% of all respondents said Biden, at more than 80 years old now, is too old. That included a stunning 69% of Democrats who agreed with 89% of Republicans on that.
Regarding Trump, three years younger than the Biden, only 51% say he's too old. That includes an expected 7i1% of Democrats but only 28% of the GOP.
On the issue of cognition, Biden repeatedly has displayed in public appearances various cognitive challenges, something the GOP candidate for 2024 has not evidenced, issues like memory lapses, bumbling speeches and episodes of confusion.
The poll explained, "When asked about the first word that comes to mind when they think of each candidate, 26% of all adults cited Biden’s age and 15% mentioned words associated with being slow and confused, while only 1% and 3% did so for Trump, respectively,"
For Trump, 15% mentioned corrupt, while another 8% said dishonest.
For Biden, 6% mentioned corrupt and 2% dishonest.
But then Biden hasn't been in the news in recent months being named, like Trump, in four indictments that most experts recognize as politically charged. Trump has been indicted for having government documents, an offense which Biden is known to have committed but for which he's not been charged.
Further, one of the election cases against Trump identifies telephone calls and meetings as criminal over his insistence on examining the actual count in Georgia that resulted in that state's votes being awarded to Biden in 2020.
Trump's concerns and comments were identical to the comments and strategies recommended by Al Gore, a Democrat, and his legal advisers in the 2000 election, which resulted in no charges against anyone.
Media outlets have covered the claims against Trump extensively and repeatedly, but largely have ignored the investigation into the Biden clan, which includes charges of influence peddling, bribery and more. An FBI document talks about claims of a $5 million bribe to Biden and congressional investigators say they uncovered some $20 million paid by foreign interests to Biden family members in recent years.
Most of the polling questions were directed at the public's perception of Biden, and they showed 77% of Democrats 18-44 say he's too old to run again, 81% of Democrats 30-44 and 83% of Democrats 45-59.
And only 43% of Democrats say they definitely would support Biden if he's the Democrat nominee. That includes only 28% of Democrats 18-44.
Among all Democrats, 23% disapprove of his performance as president and 34% disapprove of his handling of the economy.
The controversy over Biden's mental performance, in which he's forgotten names of even his family members, his Cabinet members and nations, sometimes has needed assistance getting of a stage and once wandered across the White House lawn, causing Secret Service agents to scramble, instead of going to the door, also likely has impacted Americans' view of age for officials.
As a result, 67% say Supreme Court justices should be required to retire by a specific age, 68% say there should be a maximum age for House and Senate candidates, and 66% say there should be a maximum age for running for president.
The actual report that described the poll results quoted from two Democrats, both of whom had criticisms of Biden but said they'd "had enough" of Trump. The report also quoted Republicans, one of whom called Trump "arrogant" with another calling Trump "too much of a distraction."
"For Trump, meanwhile, the top comments among Republicans include the generally positive (15%) along with things like 'strong' (11%) and mentions of America or patriotism (8%), along with mentions of the presidency or leadership (6%)," the report said.