Biden, 80, launches 2024 reelection bid

WASHINGTON — US President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced that he is running for a second term, asking voters to give him more time to “finish the job” he began when he was sworn into office. But the 80-year-old will face constant and fierce scrutiny over his age.

Biden, who would be 86 at the end of a second term, is betting his first-term legislative achievements and more than 50 years of experience in Washington will count for more than concerns over his age. He faces a smooth path to winning his party’s nomination, with no serious Democratic rivals. But he is still set to face a hard-fought struggle to retain the presidency in a bitterly divided nation.

But even if a medical exam in February found him “fit” to execute the duties of the presidency, many including in his own voter base believe he is too old.

An NBC News poll released over the weekend found that 70 percent of people in the United States, including 51 percent of Democrats, believe he should not run.

Sixty-nine percent of all respondents who said he should not run cited concerns over his age as a major or minor reason.

Over the next 1.5 years, Biden would have all the advantages of incumbency, backed by a united party, while Republicans are only just starting a messy primary season.

Donald Trump, 76, despite becoming the first former or serving president to be criminally indicted — and facing probes into his attempt to overturn his loss to Biden in the 2020 election — is the overwhelming Republican front-runner.

The most likely Republican challenger to Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, presents a similarly right-wing figure, though starkly younger at 44.

Biden is widely expected to stick with Kamala Harris, the first black person and first woman to be US vice-president, on the November 2024 ticket.

The president’s approval ratings have not topped 50 percent for more than 1.5 years. But he also has multiple policy goals and unmet promises from his first campaign that he is pitching voters on giving him another chance to fulfill.

“Let’s finish the job,” Biden said in a video message on social media on Tuesday.