Is there a double standard on age between Trump and Biden?

In the eyes of voters, age seems to be a bigger issue for President Biden than former President Trump, even though they’re only four years apart.

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

On June 14, Donald Trump will turn 78 years old. Joe Biden turned 81 in November. Whether they like it or not, age, mental acuity and physical fitness are issues dominating the 2024 presidential election cycle. Though the two men were born fewer than four years apart, voters have consistently expressed more concern about Biden’s age than Trump’s. So we’ve invited NPR White House correspondent Tamara Keith and NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik to come explain why. Welcome, you two.

TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: Thank you.

DAVID FOLKENFLIK, BYLINE: Hey, Mary Louise.

KELLY: All right. Tam, I’m going to throw the first few questions your way. I mean, we’re here. We’re talking about age again because of what special counsel Robert Hur wrote in his report investigating President Biden and his retention of classified documents. Open us up with the question of, do voters care about Biden’s age? Like, how much of an issue is this?

KEITH: Voters bring it up to us unprompted all the time, and there’s data to back it up. There’s a January poll from NBC News that found three quarters of those surveyed had major or moderate concerns about President Biden’s mental and physical fitness for a second term. That same poll found it was more like 50% of those surveyed who had the same concerns about Trump. If you look at the partisan breakdown, though, it’s very interesting. Republicans have no concerns about Trump. They feel very positive about him. Take Delbert Leasure (ph), who my colleague Danielle Kurtzleben interviewed in South Carolina.

DELBERT LEASURE: I mean, he’ll do a rally here for an hour and a half, two hours, 2 1/2 hours, whatever it is. I mean, I’m thinking he can run a marathon.

KEITH: But on the Democratic side, voters have – I guess you’d call it a far…