Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis played his apparent “Trump” card against his primary rival on Monday by suggesting that the front-runners for both the Democratic and Republican nominations are too old to be president.
DeSantis, 44, said voters’ concerns about the ages of Donald Trump, 77, and Joe Biden, 80, were “absolutely legitimate concerns.”
The governor continues to trail Trump significantly in the Republican primary for the right to challenge Biden, the country’s oldest president ever, in 2024.
“The presidency is not a job for someone who is 80 years old,” DeSantis said Tuesday. “And there’s nothing wrong with being 80. “Obviously I’m the governor of Florida.” I know a lot of older people. “They’re great people.”
“But you’re talking about a job where you have to give 100 percent.” “We need an energetic president.”
DeSantis believes he could use his age against Biden if he becomes the Republican nominee and that he would be the third-youngest president ever elected – behind Teddy Roosevelt and JFK – if he wins the nomination and the 2024 election.
Florida Gov. and Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis said Tuesday he supports age limits for members of Congress, saying the ages of Donald Trump and Joe Biden are “absolutely a legitimate concern.”
“I think Americans – if Biden is the Democratic nominee, I’m the Republican nominee – I think there will be a lot of Americans who want to see a generational passing of the torch,” he said.
He also told CBS News he believes the country’s founding fathers “probably would have put an age limit on some of these offices” if they had made a second attempt at writing the Constitution.
CBS News cited its own poll released Sunday that found more than 53 percent of Americans think the presidency is too demanding for someone over 75 and 78 percent are concerned about their ability to do the job.
DeSantis also told Norah O’Donnell that he would send US troops to the shared border with Mexico and that he wanted to prevent a war with China.
Trump was the country’s oldest president when he took office at 70, only Biden surpassed him in 2022 at 78.
Although the Republican from Florida, who ran for re-election last year, recorded positive poll numbers in a direct duel with Biden, he still has a lot to do to beat his predecessor.
Trump remains miles ahead of his Republican counterparts, a new national poll shows – despite four arrests, a historic mugshot and the fact that he didn’t attend this week’s GOP debate, where many of his rivals put in strong performances.
The poll of likely Republican voters conducted by InsiderAdvantage found that despite his controversies, the former president has a 27 percent lead over his closest deputy in DeSantis and 34 percent over South Carolina’s Nikki Haley.
Next came the man many believed had won the decidedly Trump-free debate: biotech millionaire Vivek Ramaswamy, who recently edged out DeSantis as the presumptive winner in a poll organized by . Here he only reached fourth place with 7 percent.
Trump (pictured right) was the country’s oldest president when he took office at 70, only Biden (pictured left) surpassed him at 78 in 2022
DeSantis (pictured with his wife Casey) believes he could use his age against Biden if he became the Republican nominee
InsiderAdvantage’s poll of likely Republican voters found the former president, despite his controversies, with a double-digit lead over the rest of the Republican Party
A new CNN poll puts Biden behind Trump, Pence, Scott, Ramaswamy, Christie and Haley and tied with DeSantis
The post-debate poll also showed a trend of increasing support for the runner-up in both polls, DeSantis, as well as fellow debate standout Haley. Nevertheless, both remain well behind the embattled former head of state.
However, recent polls show DeSantis tied with the current president at 47-47.
Biden is narrowly trailing Trump, the GOP front-runner, 47 to 46 in a new CNN/SSRS poll. That’s in line with poll averages like one from RealClearPolitics that has Biden ahead of Trump by a percentage point.
Voters in these polls continued to express strong concerns about Biden and particularly his age.
It shows that 73 percent are seriously concerned about his mental capacity and 76 percent are seriously concerned about his ability to serve out his four-year term if re-elected.
Two-thirds of Democrats, or 67 percent, believe the party should nominate someone other than Biden, up from 54 percent in March.
Both Biden and Trump have an approval rating of 35 percent.
The poll comes as Biden prepares to fly to India for a meeting of world leaders at the G20 summit.