US INSTITUTIONS
Is America's long standing institution still working well?
Majority of Biden ’s 2020 Voters Now Say He’s Too Old to Be Effective
NYTimes.com Feed
Ruth Igielnik , Lisa Lerer
By Lisa Lerer and Ruth Igielnik ( ADAPTED )
Widespread concerns about President Biden’s age pose a deepening threat to his re-election bid, with a majority of voters who supported him in 2020 now saying he is too old to lead the country effectively, according to a new poll by The New York Times and Siena College.
The survey pointed to a fundamental shift in how voters who backed Mr. Biden four years ago have come to see him. A striking 61 percent said they thought he was “just too old” to be an effective president.
A sizable share was even more worried: Nineteen percent of those who voted for Mr. Biden in 2020, and 13 percent of those who said they would back him in November, said the 81-year-old president’s age was such a problem that he was no longer capable of handling the job.
The misgivings about Mr. Biden’s age cut across generations, gender, race and education, underscoring the president’s failure to dispel both concerns within his own party and Republican attacks painting him as senile. Seventy-three percent of all registered voters said he was too old to be effective, and 45 percent expressed a belief that he could not do the job.
This unease, which has long surfaced in polls and in quiet conversations with Democratic officials, appears to be growing as Mr. Biden moves toward formally capturing his party’s nomination. The poll was conducted more than two weeks after scrutiny of his age intensified in early February, when a special counsel described him in a report as a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory” and “diminished faculties in advancing age.”
Voters have not expressed the same anxieties about Donald J. Trump, who at 77 is just four years Mr. Biden’s junior. Their likely rematch would make them the oldest presidential nominees in history.
If re-elected, Mr. Biden would beat his own record as the oldest sitting president, while Mr. Trump would be the second-oldest if he won. Mr. Trump would be 82 at the end of the term, and Mr. Biden would be 86.
Otto Abad, 50, an independent voter in Scott, La., said he voted for Mr. Biden in 2020 but planned to flip his support to Mr. Trump if they faced off again. Last time, he wanted a less divisive figure in the White House after the chaos of the Trump administration. Now, he worries that Mr. Biden is not quite up for a second term.
“If he was in this sort of mental shape, I didn’t realize back then,” Mr. Abad said. “He’s aged a lot. With the exception of Trump, every president seems to age a lot during their presidency.”
He added: “Trump, one of the few things I would say good about him, is that nothing seems to bother him. He seems like he’s in the same mental shape he was 10 years ago, 12 years ago, 15 years ago. He’s like a cockroach.”
Mr. Abad is far from alone. Just 15 percent of voters who supported Mr. Trump in 2020 said they thought he was now too old to be an effective president, and 42 percent of all voters said the same — a much lower share than for Mr. Biden. Polling from the 2020 race indicates that the share of voters who believe Mr. Trump is too old has also increased over the past four years, but not as drastically as for Mr. Biden.
Calvin Nurjadin, a Democrat in Cedar Park, Texas, who plans to support Mr. Biden in November, said he was unconvinced by politicians in his party who have publicly played up their direct observations of Mr. Biden’s mental sharpness.
“You’ve just kind of seen the clips of, you know, he’s having memories onstage and, you know, during debate and discussion where he kind of freezes up a lot,” said Mr. Nurjadin, who does data entry work. “Him being sharp and fit is not very convincing.”
Even though the country is bitterly divided and Republican voters have overwhelmingly negative views of Mr. Biden’s age, Democrats do not appear to be more worried about the effects of time on Mr. Trump than on Mr. Biden. Similar shares of Democrats said each man was too old to be effective.
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To go further : From The New York Times
March 7, 2024
Opinion Editor
A large majority of Americans say they don’t trust a government run by the opposition party. So we must ask ourselves: Is it moral, just and wise to vest the ability to end other nations in the hands of one person?
“As president, I carried no wallet, no money, no driver’s license, no keys in my pockets — only secret codes that were capable of bringing about the annihilation of much of the world as we knew it,” Ronald Reagan wrote in his autobiography.
That’s right. President Biden this very minute could unilaterally decide to launch a devastating nuclear strike anywhere in the world in minutes — without a requirement to consult Congress or the courts. The missiles would be in flight before even the most plugged-in Americans knew they’d been launched.
This is an enormous amount of power to grant any single person. That’s doubly true in undemocratic nations, several of which have nuclear arsenals of their own.
It is time to explore what alternatives to the president’s sole nuclear authority could be, and that’s what my colleague W.J. Hennigan does in the latest installment of our series “At the Brink,” published this morning.
Mr. Hennigan offers readers a rare look into the U.S. Strategic Command, which operates a global system to ensure that, if a president orders the launch of a nuclear weapon, it will happen in minutes. Along with his compelling reporting and writing, the celebrated photographer An-My Lê captures the men, women and spaces that make up this military operation.
Last year, Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Representative Ted Lieu of California introduced legislation that would prevent any American president from launching a first nuclear strike without congressional approval. Passing this bill or one like it is an obvious step.
Yet the American public is owed a bigger plan on how countries around the globe can work together to reduce nuclear threats. Today nuclear weapons loom over international politics in ways not seen since the Cold War — a dynamic Times Opinion explored in the first installment of the series earlier this week.
The phrase “serious debate” is often tossed around in campaign season. It’s a way to insist on talking about something, even if in a nebulous way. Fortunately, there are chances for a substantive public discussion of nuclear weapons, and we invite the country and the world to join in the conversation. Americans might be surprised to hear what those in other nations think.
Times Opinion has invited President Biden and President Trump to explain in our pages what their next administrations would do to reduce these risks. We hope they will do so. We also hope this will be a subject in the upcoming presidential debates. Reporters covering the president and his competitor should press them on their policies and thinking around sole authority and other nuclear policies.
Though Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden “will have to confront questions from voters about their mental acuity, competence and stamina to take on another four-year term,” as Mr. Hennigan writes today, “regardless of who wins this election or the next one, the American president’s nuclear sole authority is a product of another era, and must be revisited in our new nuclear age.”
That should be something that most Americans can agree on.
Monarchy: La monarchie
A monarch by divine right: Un monarque de droit divin
Sovereign: Souverain
Aristocracy: L'aristocratie
Oligarchy: Oligarchie
A tyrant: Un tyran
A despot: Un despote
Despotism: Le despotisme
Despotic: Despotique
An enlightened despot: Un despote éclairé
Charge: Charge, accusation, frais
Habeas Corpus: A writ requiring a person under arrest to be brought before a judge or into court
Writ: Ordonnance, décret
Rule of law: État de droit
A dictator: Un dictateur
Dictatorship: La dictature
Authoritarian: Autoritaire
Authoritarianism: L' autoritarisme
Totalitarian: Totalitaire
Totalitarianism: Le totalitarisme
To set out: Exposer, énoncer
A military junta, a military dictatorship: Une junte militaire, une dictature militaire
A coup, a coup d'état: Un coup d'État
A strongman: Un homme fort
A regime: Un gouvernement autoritaire
The Vichy / Pinochet regime: Le régime de Vichy / de Pinochet
A repressive regime: Un régime répressif
A political system: Un régime politique
To become more democratic: Se démocratiser
To be entitled to: Avoir droit à
To take, seize power: Prendre le pouvoir, s'emparer du pouvoir
To come to power: Arriver au pouvoir
To come into office: Arriver au pouvoir (démocratiquement)
To be in power: Être au pouvoir
To remain, stay in power: Rester au pouvoir
To leave office: Quitter le pouvoir
To cling to power: S'accrocher au pouvoir
The country's rulers: Les dirigeants du pays
Good governance: La bonne gouvernance
To misrule, mismanage: Mal administrer, mal gérer
Misrule: Mauvaise administration
Mismanagement: Mauvaise gestion
To hold a leader to account: Tenir un dirigeant pour responsable
To be accountable to the electorate: Être responsable devant les électeurs 45
Accountability: La responsabilité
Corruption, sleaze, bribery: La corruption
Corrupt: Corrompu
A bribe: Un pot-de-vin
To bribe sb: Acheter, soudoyer qqn
Misconduct: Mauvaise conduite, abus
Motion of no confidence: Motion de censure
The rule of law: L'état de droit, le règne de la loi
Multi-party system: Le multipartisme
Single-party system: Un système de parti unique
Free and fair elections: Des élections libres et régulières
Vote rigging, ballot rigging, electoral fraud: La fraude électorale
The election was rigged: L'élection était truquée
A political opponent: Un opposant politique
A dissident: Un dissident
To gag the opposition: Museler l'opposition
To declare a state of emergency: Déclarer l'état d'urgence
To trample the constitution: Bafouer la constitution
To censor: Censurer
Censorship: La censure
To block / restrict internet access: Bloquer / restreindre l'accès à internet 66
To circumvent, bypass censorship: Contourner la censure
To square: Régler, cadrer, concilier
Terminal: Terminal, incurable
Human rights: Les droits de l'homme
Human rights abuses, violations: Des atteintes aux droits de l'homme
A crime against humanity: Un crime contre l'humanité
The duty to interfere, to intervene: Le devoir d'ingérence
Human-rights lobby: Association de défense des droits de l'homme
China's human rights record: Le passé de la Chine en matière de droits de l'homme
Advocacy group, lobby: Groupe de défense, de pression
Insurgency: Insurrection, rébellion, soulèvement 77
To bring about sth: Entraîner, provoquer, induire 78
To oust: Chasser, évincer
Unrest: Toubles, agitation, instabilité
To pit: Opposer
So far: Jusqu'à présent, pour l'instant
Discontent: Mécontentement, malaise
To spark unrest: Provoquer des troubles
Turmoil: Crise, tourmente, boulversement, agitation
An upheaval: Un bouleversement
To stir up trouble: Fomenter des troubles
An insurgent: Un insurgé
An insurgency: Une insurrection
A demonstration, a protest march: Une manifestation
A demonstrator, a protester: Un manifestant
To hold / attend a rally: Organiser / participer à un rassemblement 92
A riot: Une émeute
A rioter: Un émeutier, un casseur
Riots broke out: Des émeutes ont éclaté
Anti-riot police: Les CRS
A Molotov cocktail: Un cocktail Molotov
Tear gas: Du gaz lacrymogène
A clash: Un heurt, un affrontement
A skirmish: Une échauffourée, une escarmouche
Hegemony: Hégémonie, suprématie
Secular: Laïque
A plot: Un complot
A plotter: Un comploteur
To revolt: Se révolter
To rebel: Se rebeller
A rebel: Un rebelle
A rebellion: Une rébellion, une révolte
To defy the authorities: Défier les autorités
An uprising: Un soulèvement
To rise up against: Se soulever contre
To overthrow, to topple a dictator: Renverser un dictateur
To oust a dictator: Évincer un dictateur
The overthrow of a dictator: Le renversement d'un dictateur 114
To depose a ruler: Déposer (destituer) un dirigeant
To collapse: S'effondrer
To restore democracy: Restaurer la démocratie
The downfall of a government: La chute d'un gouvernement 118
To spell out: Expliquer clairement
Checks and balances: L'équilibre des pouvoirs
Ruthless repression: Répression brutale
To put down, to suppress a rebellion: Réprimer une rébellion 122
To quell the protests: Réprimer, étouffer la contestation
Crackdown, clampdown: Des mesures de répression
To send people to prison: Mettre les gens en prison
To beat sb up: Passer qqn à tabac
not least because: surtout parce que
without charge: sans être inculpé
principle: un principe
arbitrary governance: Gouvernance arbitraire
Sets out: Énonce
sovereign: un souverain
Lies mainly: Repose essentiellement
court: la cour
Accountability: la responsabilité
Accountable to: Responsable devant
Policies: les politiques
electorate: électorat, électeurs
misconduct: mauvaise conduite
motion of no confidence: une motion de censure
To square public opinion: Concilier l'opinion publique
decisively: fermement
Terminal damage: Dommages définitifs
To take over the cliff: Précipiter au bord de la falaise
pitting A against B: opposant A et B
ousting: Évincement
autocrats: Autocrate
so-called: prétendu
fairly: équitablement
ruling elite: l'élite dominante
Largely attributed to: Largement attribuable à
disillusionment: la désillusion
stems from: provient de
Yellow Vests: Les Gilets Jaunes
To voice: Exprimer
take to the streets: descendre dans la rue
Governing Class: la classe dirigeante
spells out: Explique en détail
To enfranchise women: Émanciper les femmes