While polls show Joe Biden besieged by questions about his age at home, his trip Sunday to Vietnam yielded at least one person unconcerned by the US president’s age: Vietnamese General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.
(Bloomberg) — While polls show Joe Biden besieged by questions about his age at home, his trip Sunday to Vietnam yielded at least one person unconcerned by the US president’s age: Vietnamese General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.
“You have nary aged a day and I would say you look even better than before,“ Trọng told Biden as the men met at Communist Party headquarters in Hanoi. “Every feature of you, Mr. President, is very much complimentary of your image.”
Biden, 80, laughed off the warm words from the 79-year-old Trong, who is Vietnam’s longest-serving leader since the war era.
When he was re-appointed in 2021, Trong told reporters he hadn’t sought another term but bowed to the party’s desire that he continue serving. “I’m old and not in good health,” he said at the time.
Read More: Biden Sees ‘Enormous Opportunity’ With Vietnam as China Looms
Biden is the oldest president in US history, and polls show that his age is consistently his largest liability as he seeks reelection again next year.
Some 73% of Americans surveyed in a CNN poll released earlier this week said they were seriously concerned the president’s age might negatively impact his competence, while 76% said they were worried he could be too old to serve out another full term. Biden would be 82 at the start of his second term in January 2025, while leading Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump would be 78 years old.
Vice President Kamala Harris defended Biden in an interview airing Sunday with CBS News, saying he “is going to be fine.”
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