Senior citizens in President Joe Biden’s hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, believe he is too old to run for a second term in 2024, according to The Messenger.
Biden‘s age has raised concerns regarding his viability in his reelection campaign, as he would be 86 years old by the end of his second term and is already the oldest U.S. president in history. In Scranton, which leans Democrat, many elderly citizens expressed skepticism over Biden’s ability to run for reelection and serve a second term, according to The Messenger.
“Don’t compare me with him,” 82-year-old Ike Mielo told The Messenger. “You start to lose your mind after a certain age. I see myself, you know. I think we need a younger guy.”
Mielo, who’s similar in age to the president, voted for Biden in 2020 but won’t in 2024, according to The Messenger. 86-year-old
Barbara Petroski also voted for Biden last cycle, but admitted she’d rather have former Vice President Mike Pence win in 2024.
“He’s [Biden] making a good front and everything, but I just don’t think he has the capabilities anymore,” Petroski told The Messenger. “And four more years? I just don’t think he’s going to have the brain power.”
Joe Biden v Stairs — Stairs remain undefeated pic.twitter.com/CFI3BVQCpE
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) May 22, 2023
While Petroski admitted that she’d back the president if it came down to a rematch between Biden and former President Donald Trump, 76, but told The Messenger she hoped both men would sit 2024 out, as they are both too old to run again.
“There comes a time when you have to step down. And it’s hard to concede to that too, you know,” Petroski told The Messenger.
Republican Fred Miller, who is retired and in his mid-60s, is looking for a younger GOP alternative to Trump in the primaries, like 44-year-old Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis or 37-year-old conservative businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, he told The Messenger. If Biden did win in 2024, Miller is concerned that Vice President Kamala Harris would succeed him.
“I don’t want to pick this [newspaper] up in the morning and see that President Biden has passed away overnight and now Kamala Harris is our president,” Miller told The Messenger.
Though many of Scranton’s elders voiced concern over the president’s imminent age, 101-year-old Albert Liberatore said Biden was “still a young man.”
“I don’t put a lot of stock in that age business because yes, your mind wanders as you get older and you lose traction easily, but Biden seems to be in pretty good shape,” Liberatore told The Messenger.
The White House did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org
