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President Joe Biden holds a news conference at the NATO Summit on July 11, 2024 in Washington, DC.

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Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

President Joe Biden holds a news conference at the NATO Summit on July 11, 2024 in Washington, DC.

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Just after the conclusion of this week’s NATO summit in Washington, President Biden held a rare solo press conference.

The questions were not just about foreign policy — with many reporters asking about his mental acuity and if he is the best candidate to beat former President Donald Trump.

In the weeks since Biden’s disastrous performance in the presidential debate, there’s been a steady drip of high-profile supporters — everyone from members of Congress, to big donors like George Clooney — urging him to step aside.

They’re worried he’s too old for a second term and too vulnerable to losing to Trump. But the polls haven’t really shifted all that much.

President Biden believes he can withstand a bruising campaign, win re-election, and lead the country for four more years. He says the calls for him to step aside are coming from D.C. pundits, not voters.

Last fall, Consider This host Scott Detrow traveled to western Pennsylvania — a key swing state — where he gathered a group of voters all around the same age as Biden and Trump, to talk about how they viewed age in the race.

This week, Detrow checked back in with some of them to see if recent events have changed how this group of key voters are thinking about President Biden.

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Some opinions have shifted.

Len Zapler is 86, and a lifelong Republican. But when Detrow spoke to him last fall, he said he planned to vote for Biden.

Now? “I’d have to go with Trump,” he said. “I mean, I’m not happy about Trump. He’s sort of a jerk… it’s not presidential. But he gets stuff done, and at least we know that his mental acuity is there.”

Zapler says his top concern has been Biden’s ability to do the job:

“The fact that he is losing it. That’s the way the world works. You’re born. You grow up. You flourish, and then you begin to wither and then you’re gone. And I think he’s on the withering and right now, a lot more than Trump.”

But Zapler remembers Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election and the ensuing insurrection, which worries him:

“Nobody should be messing with our Constitution… This is a problem I have with Trump. I don’t think that he’s going to get away with being a tyrant. We still have our availability of dealing with somebody like that and it’s not going to happen. I think he’d be OK for four years. Who knows? I hope I’m right.”

Some opinions remain unchanged.

When Detrow first spoke to John Fuller last year, he was deeply frustrated at his choices for president, and wasn’t quite sure who he’d vote for. This week, he told Detrow he still feels that way:

“Both have some common challenges. One being age. And President Biden, certainly from his last performance in that debate, has some cognitive and physical issues. On the other hand, former President Donald Trump has some legal issues in the court still remaining, as well as some character issues. And neither of these put me in a mind to vote for either of them.”

Fuller turned 82 this year. He says he has good days and bad days — maybe mentally he could see himself in a tough job like Biden, but physically it’d be just too difficult.

But he said if he had to choose: “I would go with President Biden.”

Cathie Huber is 81. Last year she was enthusiastic about Biden, and that hasn’t changed.

Huber said the debate was “unfortunate” but she’s still backing Biden, and still thinks he can do the job:

“I’m just a couple of months younger than Biden. I still have all my marbles. I might be able to speak a little more forcefully than he does, but I think he’s got the experience, the background and the expertise to go on for a second term.”

She hopes Biden can beat Trump:

“I speak to many people about this and they kind of feel that I do — that Trump’s biggest drawback is the fact that he is such a damn liar. He’s also a convicted felon.”

This episode was produced by Marc Rivers and Kai McNamee.

It was edited by Courtney Dorning and Patrick Jarenwattananon. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.