WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 07: U.S. President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress as Vice President Kamala Harris and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) listen on February 7, 2023 in the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC. The speech marks Biden's first address to the new Republican-controlled House. (Photo by Jacquelyn Martin-Pool/Getty Images)
President Joe Biden officially announced he’s running for reelection next year in an effort to “finish the job” despite growing opposition regarding his ability to perform the task.
Biden would be 86 years old at the end of a potential second term. Polls and social conversations show uncertainty in voting for a president in his advanced age. The 80-year-old formally announced his bid for reelection on Twitter early Tuesday.
“Every generation has a moment where they have had to stand up for democracy. To stand up for their fundamental freedoms. I believe this is ours,” the president tweeted early Tuesday.
Biden continued, “That’s why I’m running for reelection as President of the United States. Join us. Let’s finish the job.”
Biden’s tweet included a three-minute-long video. He called his reelection bid a “battle for the soul of America” in pushing back against “MAGA extremists.” The commander-in-chief launched his official 2024 run on the fourth anniversary of when he first declared his intention to run for president in 2019.
Biden also touched upon “bedrock freedoms” and his intentions to protect those during a potential second term. He called out MAGA extremists “all over the country” for targeting Social Security, cutting back taxes for the wealthy, restricting women’s healthcare decisions, and “banning books and telling people who they can love.”
“When I ran for president four years ago, I said we are in a battle for the soul of America — and we still are,” Biden said. “The question we are facing is whether in the years ahead we have more freedom or less freedom. More rights or fewer.”
“This is not a time to be complacent. That’s why I’m running for reelection. Because I know America,” Biden said, calling it a moment for Americans “…to defend democracy.”
The clip ends with his “Biden/Harris” logo, officially throwing his hat in the 2024 presidential election. Vice President Kamala Harris, who was heavily featured in the promo video, will again be on the ticket.
But the announcement was met with widespread dismay, as many Americans call on Biden to step down due to his age.
A recent NBC News poll with 1000 participants revealed that “70 percent of Americans, including 51 percent of Democrats,” didn’t want him to run for president again.
An AP-NORC poll taken in January with over 1000 participants showed only 12 percent of Democrats believe Biden should remain the party’s leader.
Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump, who has already announced his bid for reelection, called it “inconceivable” that the “most corrupt president in American history” would run again for president, according to the New York Post.
“You could take the five worst presidents in American history, and put them together, and they would not have done the damage Joe Biden has done to our Nation in just a few short years. Not even close,” Trump said.
The 76-year-old continued:
“With such a calamitous and failed presidency, it is almost inconceivable that Biden would even think of running for reelection.”
Despite shaky support for Biden in polls, the incumbent president will likely face little to no opposition in winning his party’s nomination.
Biden, who exercises five days a week and doesn’t drink alcohol, was deemed “fit for duty” by doctors following an examination in February.
