Karen wrote about this polling yesterday so if you missed that maybe go back and take a look. The gist is that a new Washington Post-ABC News poll found only 32% of respondents think Joe Biden is mentally fit enough to run for office again and in a head-to-head matchup with either Trump or DeSantis he was trailing. Today the NY Times published a story suggesting some Democrats are nervous about the numbers in the poll.

The data has left many Democrats feeling anywhere from queasy to alarmed. Mr. Biden’s case for being the pair of safe hands at a volatile moment is undermined in their view if a president who passed major legislation and presides over the lowest unemployment in generations cannot outperform a twice-impeached challenger who instigated an insurrection, has been indicted on multiple felonies, is on civil trial accused of rape and faces more potential criminal charges in the months to come.

“The poll demonstrates that the president still has work to do, not only in convincing the American people that he’s up for the job that he wishes to complete,” said Donna Brazile, a former chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee who said she lost sleep over the “ominous signs” in the latest survey results. “More importantly, it’s a good forecast of the challenges he will face in rebuilding the remarkable coalition that elected him in 2020.”

Not everyone was impressed with the poll. Critics pointed out that it surveyed all adults rather than registered voters. Also, there’s the obvious fact that the election is more than a year away so any poll at this point is probably meaningless given the number of things that could change dramatically between now and next November. All of that seems like fair criticism to me. Still, the Times thinks there’s something worth noting here.

Mr. Biden has dismissed the importance of polls, saying that he is no different from other presidents at this point in their terms. “Every major one who won re-election, their polling numbers were where mine are now,” he told Stephanie Ruhle on “The 11th Hour” on MSNBC on Friday.

But in fact, only two of the past 13 presidents had approval ratings lower than Mr. Biden has at this point, according to an aggregate compilation by FiveThirtyEight.com — Mr. Trump and Jimmy Carter, both of whom lost re-election.

A Republican consultant told the Times he thinks Democrats are whistling past the graveyard, “Trump can most certainly win. Joe Biden is asking the country to elect a candidate who will be 82 years old, who has clearly lost a step, running with a vice president whom almost no one in either party thinks is ready for prime time.”

We’ve walked through the VP Harris problem before. I honestly think the best thing Biden has going for him at this point is that no one sees any credible alternative on the Democratic bench, especially not Harris who should be the heir apparent. It leaves Biden as the best of several poor choices. The problem is that the same argument backfires if you ask what happens if Biden isn’t fit to finish out a 2nd term. What if he’s hospitalized or his mental state take a sudden turn? Then we’re right back to VP Harris.

Ultimately, I’m sure Democrats hope this race will come down to specific policy issues and an argument about Biden being the adult in the room (regardless of who the challenger is). But the Post-ABC poll suggests a majority have decided Biden is just too old for this. The steady hand appears to be shaking a bit with old age.

I’m not sure how you convince people otherwise at this point. Normally I’d say by going out and campaigning vigorously but will that really work? Biden was able to spend a lot of the previous campaign in his basement because of COVID. He won’t have that excuse this time around. Running for office while running the country is going to severely test his fitness over the next year. I hope this doesn’t become another John Fetterman situation where someone is pushed beyond what the should really be asked of them for the sake of the party.