Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) dismissed questions about President Biden’s age on Sunday, pointing to Biden’s performance at the White House correspondents’ dinner and saying the president was “in fighting form.”
“I saw the president last night, he was in fighting form,” Van Hollen said on “Fox News Sunday.” “I saw him at the event with the South Korean president. Again, great press conference.”
Biden’s age has been a major question facing him as he prepares his reelection bid, and it was something he did not shy away from during his remarks at the dinner over the weekend. The president, 80, poked fun at his age.
“I believe in the First Amendment, not just because my good friend Jimmy Madison wrote it,” Biden said at the event.
At the dinner, Biden also went on the offensive against some of his biggest and most vocal detractors, roasting Fox News for its over $760 million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems and leaning into the popular online “dark Brandon” meme.
But as Republicans, and some Democrats, try to point to the president’s age as a reason he should not be reelected, Van Hollen argued on Sunday that Biden should be judged on his record.
“The president has a great record,” Van Hollen said. “He’s also been one of the most productive presidents in recent history, when it comes to a legislative record.”
But polling does indicate that Biden’s age is a large consideration for many voters. The president boasts an average approval rating of 43 percent, according to an aggregation by FiveThirtyEight. A recent NBC poll showed that around 70 percent of respondents did not want him to run for reelection, with nearly half of them citing his age as a major factor.
“Polls will go up, polls will go down,” Van Hollen said during the Fox News interview. “I think the polls will bounce around, as they always do.”