Talking Points: Rep. Phillips talks possibility of running for POTUS, Biden's age and more
MINNEAPOLIS -- Polls have consistently shown that voters are concerned about President Joe Biden's age as he runs for reelection.
Biden is currently 80 years old, and would be 86 at the end of a second term.
It's one of the reasons Minnesota Congressman Dean Phillips says he is thinking about running for President.
Here is Esme Murphy with Talking Points.
Right now it looks like the presidential race in 2024 could be a rematch of 2020: President Joe Biden against former President Donald Trump.
Trump is three years Biden's junior at 77 years old. Former President Trump's loyal base of supporters is dismissing talk of his age. On the Democratic side, the concern is mentioned almost exclusively in private.
But Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips is not being private at all. For six months now, he has been saying he does not think President Biden should run for reelection and that it's time for a younger generation to lead this country. And now Phillips himself is exploring a run for president.
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Phillips has maintained Democrats need to have a backup for Biden.
At the moment, Biden has a commanding lead over two declared opponents: Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Marianne Williamson.
As for the general election, a recent poll shows that Biden is currently in a statistical dead heat with Trump.
Phillips was live for an exclusive local interview on WCCO Sunday Morning at 10:30 a.m.
"Are you running for president or might you run for president? What is your status?" Murphy asked Phillips.
"Esme, I'll answer it directly, I have not made that decision. I have not taken a single step to do so other than doing what my job is, which is to listen. And then even when it's an uncomfortable truth to share that with my constituents and the country."
Republican candidate for president and former South Carolina governor, Nikki Halley, is also making age an issue.
She says candidates 75 or older should have to take a cognitive test if they are going to run for president.
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President Trump currently has a commanding lead over his rivals for the GOP nomination. Polls show he currently has a 30-point lead over Gov. Ron Desantis in a survey of Republicans nationwide. Trump's lead is narrower in Iowa at 20 points.
For those who think this talk of the 2024 election is premature, the first debate for Republican presidential candidates is later this month in Milwaukee and the Iowa caucuses are just five months away.
You can watch WCCO Sunday Morning with Esme Murphy and Joseph Dames every Sunday at 6 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.
