More Americans say former Vice President Joe Biden has the mental clarity to be president versus Donald Trump, according to the latest Fox News poll released Sunday.
Despite the Trump campaign and the president himself repeatedly questioning the mental acuity of Biden, a larger percentage of U.S. adults say they believe the Democratic presidential candidate has the traits best suited for the job. A slight majority of likely voters—51 percent—told Fox News they believe Biden, 77, has the “mental soundness” to be president, compared to 47 percent who say the same about Trump, 74.
The president has repeatedly boasted about acing a cognitive test, and last his week campaign released an ad which showed Biden struggling to form sentences in public remarks. Trump offered the baseless accusation Saturday night that he believes Biden took performance enhancing drugs in order to get through the Democratic primary debates—an accusation he also leveled against Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential debates.
“I think there’s probably—possibly—drugs involved,” Trump told Fox News host Jeanine Pirro Saturday, taking a swipe at Biden’s mental capacity and questioning how he pulled ahead during the Democratic primary debates. “That’s what I hear, there’s possibly drugs. I don’t know how you can go from being so bad where you can’t even get out a sentence…I used to say ‘how is it possible that he can go forward?'”
Trump consistently refers to Biden as “Sleepy Joe,” and he he told rallygoers in Wisconsin and Minnesota last week that he believes the Democratic presidential nominee is mentally slow.
“Biden is shot. I’m telling you he’s shot,” Trump told rallygoers without evidence last week in Minnesota. “There’s something going on.”
The Trump campaign and many of its allied social media accounts have spliced together dozens of videos appearing to show Biden struggling to form sentences. An ad released last month was titled “What happened to Joe Biden?”
“Deep in the heart of Delaware, Joe Biden sits in his basement alone, hiding, diminished and refusing to answer questions about the crazy far left ideas he’s adopted,” one Trump campaign ad released in August claimed. “Biden has no answers and after five decades of failure, he never will.”
Trump rebutted speculation this past week that he suffered from a series of “mini-strokes” last year. He instead flipped the argument around and baselessly accused Biden of the exact same thing, before going on to once again tout his taking of a cognitive test.
When asked if he had ever taken the cognitive exam, Biden told CBS News last week, “Why the hell would I take a test?”
The poll numbers also extended in Biden’s favor in terms of “compassion,” with 62 percent versus 44 percent of Americans saying they believe the former vice president has more understanding of the pain being experienced by others struggling throughout the country.
The Fox News national poll shows Biden with a 51 to 46 percent lead over Trump, a two-point increase from the previous survey. The president leads by six percentage points among men, while Biden has a 15-point lead with women voters. Trump leads Biden in terms of white voters by 11 percentage points, compared to Biden’s massive 54-point among non-white voters.
Biden currently leads by six points in the battlegrounds states, including Michigan, Wisconsin, Florida and Pennsylvania, according to the Fox News poll. Newsweek/Benjamin Fernon
