President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden head to Iowa Tuesday, marking the first time during the 2020 election cycle that the two will campaign in the same state on the same day.
As the two make their cases to Iowans, there’s renewed attention on whether a septuagenarian candidate can persuade skeptical 2020 voters that he or she can demonstrate the vigor and vision needed to lead the nation.
Forty-six percent of voters planning to attend Iowa’s Democratic caucuses said it would be a disadvantage for a candidate to be older than 70, while 50% say it would make no difference, according to a Des Moines Register/CNN/Mediacom poll published Saturday. Three percent said they are unsure and 1% said it would be an advantage.
The response from likely caucusgoers is one that could be concerning not just to Biden, the 76-year-old Democratic frontrunner, and the 72-year old Trump, but also to two other top Democratic contenders: Sen. Bernie Sanders is 77; Sen. Elizabeth Warren soon turns 70.
“The age thing is going to be a factor,” said Bryce Smith, 27, the Dallas County, Iowa, Democratic Party chairman. “It’s going to be a top consideration for voters who are asking themselves, ‘Where do we see this country going six years or eight years from now?’ ”
Trump says ‘Joe Biden is a dummy!’ and unleashes fury at Democratic front-runner he says is ‘the weakest mentally’ in the field as he leaves Washington for Iowa showdown
- President Trump says Joe Biden has deteriorated mentally and is unfit for office
- Trump slapped back Biden over his plan to claim the Republican president is an ‘existential threat’ to democracy in an Iowa speech the campaign released early
- ‘When a man has to mention my name 76 times in a speech, he’s in trouble,’ Trump said. ‘He’s a different guy. He looks different than he used to’
- The president said: ‘He acts different then he used to. He’s even slower than he used to be. So I don’t know’
- Biden said in collected remarks shortly after that Trump is a ‘threat’ to the nation’s core values and thinks he’s being ‘tough’ when he hurts Iowa farmers
President Donald Trump says Joe Biden, 76, has deteriorated mentally and is unfit for office.
Trump slapped back and Biden in a dramatic fashion on Tuesday as he left the White House, in response to the former vice president’s claim that the Republican president is an ‘existential threat’ to democracy in prepared remarks the Democrat’s campaign released early.
‘When a man has to mention my name 76 times in a speech, he’s in trouble. Now, I have to tell you, he’s a different guy. He looks different than he used to, he acts different then he used to. He’s even slower than he used to be. So I don’t know,’ the U.S. president said. ‘But when he mentions my name that many times I guess I should be complimented.’
The president renewed his attack on the ground in Iowa at a renewable fuel standard event the White House was holding. He claimed America would not be ‘respected’ by other countries, if Biden were at the nation’s helm as president.
‘He was someplace in Iowa today, and he said my name so many times that people couldn’t stand it anymore,’ Trump claimed.
Cupping his ears and nodding his head in disagreement, the president did an impression of Iowa voters who attended Biden’s event, saying, ‘”No, don’t keep saying it.” ‘
‘Trump is an existential threat to America!’ No more Mr. Nice Guy for Biden as he opens up direct attack on president with Iowa speech that slams him by name 76 times
- Former Vice President Joe Biden hit back at President Donald Trump in Iowa after the president said he was mentally unfit to serve in the White House
- Biden said Trump is ‘literally an existential threat to this country’
- Trump unleashed on Biden before he left for his own trip to Iowa
- The president was responding to a speech Biden plans to give in Iowa tonight
- Biden will slam the president 76 times by name according to the prepared text
- His speech will attack Trump’s actions on the climate, race, trade, the auto industry and negotiations with China
- Both men were in Iowa for events Tuesday but didn’t cross paths
- Biden made his claims in a speech in Davenport while Trump later spoke in West Des Moines at a GOP fundraiser