As the United States presidential election race gathers pace, current president Joe Biden’s advanced age continues to draw significant scrutiny. But either candidate would reach the record for the oldest sitting US president over the course of their four-year term. While Biden is currently 81 years old, former US president Donald Trump, at 78, is only three years younger.
A February poll found 59% of Americans believe both candidates are too old for another presidential term. A further 27% thought President Biden was too old, but not former President Trump. Criticism of Biden increased following the first US presidential debate in late June.
Concerns were raised about his performance , including his soft, muffled speech, and his tendency to make illogical points or trail off. More recently, during a press conference at the NATO summit, Biden made several verbal errors, including referring to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as President Putin and to US Vice President Kamala Harris as Vice President Trump . Many people, including medical experts , have speculated that President Biden is showing classic features of neurodegeneration, including cognitive decline.
But to what degree is cognitive decline a normal part of ageing? And what can we really tell about Biden’s cognitive state from public appearances alone? While it’s true that cognitive function changes with normal ageing, not all aspects of cognition are affected to the same extent, and not all changes are n.