Kellyanne Conway predicts Biden won’t debate GOP nominee

Former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway said she doesn’t think President Biden will debate the eventual GOP presidential nominee in 2024. 

“He won’t. They won’t let him out there,” she said in a Fox News interview Tuesday. “They hardly let him out there at all. We don’t see much of him.”

Conway’s sentiments echo Republican concerns about Biden’s age and well-being. Biden, 80, would continue as the oldest president in the country’s history if reelected next year. 

While his public appearance schedule has stayed as robust as other recent presidents, Biden has done the fewest press conferences of any president in 40 years, according to an analysis from The New York Times. The strategy is intentional, the administration said.

“Our ultimate goal is to reach the American people wherever and however they consume media, and that’s not just through the briefing room or Washington-based news outlets,” communications director Ben LaBolt told the Times. 

“The fracturing of the media and the changing nature of information consumption requires a communications strategy that adapts to reach Americans where they get the news,” he said.

Voters from both parties have concerns about Biden’s age, even as his principal opponent — former President Trump — is just a few years younger at 77 years old.

A poll in June found that nearly half of independent voters said Biden’s age had a “severe effect” on whether they would support him. 

The Biden administration has never said that Biden won’t debate his opponent, but Conway said that outcome is unlikely, and may boil over into the vice president race as well.

“And maybe that also means Kamala [Harris] doesn’t have to debate, which they would want to avoid also, because she battles the teleprompter every day and the teleprompter wins,” she said. “She doesn’t put in the work. I can’t imagine her debating another human being on policy and substance and her record, but that would be terrible.”

Harris, 58, is generally unpopular, though age is not her concern. She set a record-low approval rating in June, with 49 percent of people having a negative view of the vice president, according to a poll. The Biden administration is working to boost her popularity by placing her at the front of issues popular with Democrats.