G. Terry Madonna, a political science professor at Millersville University in Lancaster County, said while he’s not suggesting that either Trump or Biden cannot win his party’s respective nomination, history shows that it is foolish to call anyone “inevitable” a full year away from the presidential nominating conventions. …

“Heck, the expectation in 1968 was that Lyndon Johnson would breeze through the Democratic Party’s nomination that summer and then win reelection against whoever his Republican opponent was going to be in November,” Madonna said. Then, Johnson abruptly dropped out after nearly losing the New Hampshire primary.

Christopher Borick, professor of political science and director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion, said he has seen the same sentiment from voters in his discussions with them. “It’s not showing up in the polling yet, but there is always this sense that even though they’re both the declared, a lot of voters aren’t sold that that’s necessarily going to be the matchup in ’24,” he said.

Borick said it is not just because of possible primary issues “but because of two major factors: one is Biden’s age and, two, Trump’s legal standing and his own aging factors.”

[To borrow a sports cliché: That’s why we play the game. It’s still far too early to pick frontrunners or to even assume Biden will be on the ticket. — Ed]