More than 6 in 10 US adults doubt Biden's mental health

WASHINGTON, Mar 04 (AP): A poll finds that a growing share of U.S. adults doubt that 81-year-old President Joe Biden has the memory and acuity for the job, turning his coming State of the Union address into something of a real-time audition for a second term.
Roughly 6 in 10 say they're not very or not at all confident in Biden's mental capability to serve effectively as president, according to a new survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. That's a slight increase from January 2022, when about half of those polled expressed similar concerns.
By the same token, nearly 6 in 10 also say they lack confidence in the mental capability of former President Donald Trump, the 77-year-old Republican front-runner.
For many voters, this year's election looks like a showdown for the world's toughest job between two men who are well beyond the standard retirement age. The next president will probably need to steer through global conflicts, fix domestic emergencies and work with a dysfunctional Congress.
Biden is likely to address those challenges and more in his State of the Union address on Thursday as he tries to convince Americans that he deserves another term.
Going into the big event, just 38per cent of U.S. adults approve of how Biden is handling his job as president, while 61per cent disapprove. Democrats (74per cent) are much likelier than independents (20per cent) and Republicans (6per cent) to favor his performance. But there's broad discontent on the way Biden is handling a variety of issues, including the economy, immigration and foreign policy.
About 4 in 10 Americans approve of the way Biden is handling each of these issues: health care, climate change, abortion policy and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. But people are less satisfied by Biden's handling of immigration (29per cent), the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians (31per cent) and the economy (34per cent) - all of which are likely to come up in the speech before a joint session of Congress.
Nearly 6 in 10 (57per cent) Americans think the national economy is somewhat or much worse off than before Biden took office in 2021. Only 3 in 10 adults say it's better under his leadership. Still, people are more optimistic about the state of their own bank accounts: 54per cent say their personal finances are good.