Staff Reports
Former President Donald Trump has issued a challenge to President Joe Biden and the Murdoch family, daring them to take mental competency tests. This challenge comes after a poll conducted by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) raised doubts about the former president’s mental fitness for office. In a post on Truth Social, Trump proclaimed, “I will name the place and the test, and it will be a tough one. Nobody will come even close to me! We can also throw some physical activity into it.” He then brushed off concerns about his ability to serve another term by highlighting his skills as a golfer, boasting about winning the Senior Club Championship.
The WSJ poll, which surveyed 1,500 registered voters, revealed that 73 percent of respondents believed 80-year-old President Biden is too old to seek re-election, compared to 47 percent who held the same view about 77-year-old President Trump. Additionally, 60 percent of respondents felt that President Biden was not mentally fit to be president, while 49 percent said the same about President Trump. The poll also showed that 57 percent of respondents disapproved of President Biden’s job performance.
Former President Trump challenged President Biden and the Murdoch family to mental and physical competency tests, after a new poll revealed 49 percent of respondents thought Trump was not mentally up for the job. https://t.co/hjlF6sCfLS
— The Hill (@thehill) September 12, 2023
President Trump questioned the legitimacy of the poll in his posts on Truth Social, calling it “phony and probably rigged” and suggesting it was an attempt to distract from President Biden’s obvious mental incompetence. This challenge to undergo mental competency tests is not a new idea, as former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley previously proposed mandatory tests for politicians over the age of 75. Trump seemed to support this notion, stating that all presidential candidates should take such a test before running for office. However, this idea has been met with resistance from First Lady Jill Biden, who called the proposal “ridiculous.”
It is clear that concerns about the mental fitness of both President Biden and former President Trump are prevalent among voters. The poll conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research also found that a majority of respondents viewed President Biden as too old to effectively serve another term. Words like “old,” “outdated,” “aging,” and “elderly” were commonly used to describe the current president, while words like “slow,” “confused,” and “bumbling” were used less frequently. The poll also showed that about two-thirds of respondents supported age limits for the president and other elected officials, with Democrats slightly more in favor than Republicans.
