Trump’s birthday highlights the ages of both him and Biden

Former President Donald Trump is celebrating his birthday Friday, shining a spotlight on both his and President Joe Biden‘s age as the two men vie to settle the record on the oldest person inaugurated in U.S. history.

Trump is four years younger than Biden, 78 to his predecessor’s 81. But despite the relatively small age gap, Trump has largely avoided criticism regarding his age as pressure mounts on the incumbent to perform at this month’s debate in Atlanta.

Trump will be the oldest presidential candidate in history to accept his party’s nomination during the Republican National Convention next month in Milwaukee. But he will only hold that record for four weeks before Biden accepts the Democratic counterpart in August in Chicago.

Biden, the White House, and his campaign understand the president’s age has become a political problem, with Biden ardently defending himself from the scrutiny, including last week during a rare sit-down interview with Time.

“I can do it better than anybody you know,” Biden told Time of the presidency. “You’re looking at me, I can take you too.”

Biden’s age has, in part, helped him appeal to persuadable seniors, a demographic of reliable voters who have traditionally leaned conservative. But polls also capture concerns, even among his own supporters, that he is too old to be president, such as March’s New York Times-Siena College survey.

“Age is Joe Biden’s biggest opponent, and across all humanity, age is undefeated,” Republican strategist Brad Todd told the Washington Examiner. “Vigor is Trump’s controlling ideology and his campaign’s best asset.”

But a poll conducted by ABC News and Ipsos in February found respondents considered both Biden and Trump too old for the top job.

“On physical appearance, yes, Trump seems more energetic,” University of Minnesota Center for the Study of Politics and Governance Director Lawrence Jacobs told the Washington Examiner. “On enunciation, mispronouncing words, freezing, etc. — even. Developing a thought-out plan for change and following it — Biden.”

“Trump has a hard time focusing, developing a plan, and executing it,” Jacobs said. “Trump’s chaotic, off-the-cuff announcements. Biden’s less likely to do that.”

Claremont McKenna College politics professor John Pitney, a former Republican staffer, agreed that “sometimes Trump’s vigor deserts him.”

“Four years ago today, he tottered down a ramp and needed two hands to drink a glass of water,” Pitney told the Washington Examiner. “His recent reverie about sharks and batteries raised questions about his mental state.”

Pitney was alluding to Trump’s 2020 West Point commencement address, though the former president has contended that the ramp “was very long and steep, had no handrail and, most importantly, was very slippery.”

“The last thing I was going to do is ‘fall’ for the Fake News to have fun with,” Trump wrote on social media at the time.

“I say, what would happen if the boat sank from its weight and you’re in the boat and you have this tremendously powerful battery and the battery is now underwater and there’s a shark that’s approximately 10 yards over there?” he asked during his Las Vegas rally. “Do I stay on top of the boat and get electrocuted or do I jump over by the shark?

Democratic campaign adviser Bob Mulholland quipped, “There is a big difference between a 2-year-old and a 5-year-old.”

“By Election Day, voters will see no difference between an 81-year-old and a 78-year-old, except Trump is very overweight and unhealthy,” Mulholland told the Washington Examiner.

The presidency has aged its occupants. Former President Barack Obama, for example, famously left the White House after two terms in office noticeably grayer compared to his first Inauguration Day.

Meanwhile, Trump, whose medical records have been treated with skepticism after his personal doctor, Harold Bornstein, admitted candidate-Trump wrote an open letter in 2015 on his behalf that described his health as “astonishingly excellent,” does not appear to have shown signs of age as quickly physically.

Earlier this year, White House physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor updated Biden’s own medical records to read that he “feels well” and “continues to be fit for duty and fully executes all of his responsibilities without any exemptions or accommodations.”

Trump is spending his birthday with Club 47 USA at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in Florida on Friday night.

“Join us in celebrating the birthday of the best president ever,” the invitation from the pro-Trump corporation states. “Born in the U.S.A. on Flag Day. Wear red, white, and blue.”

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Trump in 2017 became the oldest president ever to be inaugurated at age 70, surpassing the previous record set by Ronald Reagan, who was 69 when he became president. Biden shattered that record in 2021 when he took the oath of office two months after turning 78. Trump would reclaim the title if he wins a second term, as he would be sworn in about seven months into his 78th year.

Trump is leading Biden by less than a percentage point in FiveThirtyEight‘s general election polling averages that takes into account independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy, 41% to 40.1%. RealClearPolitics provides Trump with an almost 3-point advantage, 42.6% to 39.7%.