Even if Trump isn't as sharp as he was 8 years ago
He wasn't sharp then either.
the public perception that Biden is doddering is already baked.
Among the desperate victims of the conservative projection machine, sure.
"Trump isn't senile! Biden is!"
"Trump isn't corrupt! Biden is!"
"Trump isn't a wannabe dictator! Biden is!"
"Trump isn't out of his depth! Biden is!"
Biden's age registers as a significant concern for voters. Sorry that's inconvenient for your team! haha
Yes. And it’s not glossed over both because it’s true, and because the liberal/centrist media tries to both-sides things. The more left-wing media have never liked Biden either so they’re not inclined to do things that might help him, and Democrats in general have a lot of younger voters who, even aside from Gaza, really don’t like that the choice is between the same old white guys as in 2020.
Meanwhile, right-wing media pretends that Trump is incredibly smart and high-functioning because they’re too cowardly to oppose their audience, ie. the people they’ve cultivated and egged on for decades, and also because they think Trump will reward them for it (which he very well might—temporarily). The Republican Party is at war with reality and doesn’t play by any rules, so it’s not exactly a fair fight.
You're engaging in The Big Cope: the belief that Democrats would win every competitive election if only it weren't for unfair media coverage.
In addition to it being wrong (i.e., the media is overwhelmingly liberal, or at least very unsympathetic to Republicans), the Big Cope is lazy. It's complacent in the assumption that progressives are simply right about everything, so there's no need to engage in the hard work of political persuasion or accept that you won't always get what you want in a democracy.
The Big Cope tells you Biden's age is another "But Her Emails!" moment. But his age is both a real and
valid concern for voters, even when compared to Trump. Biden is 3.6 years older than Trump. That's a significant age gap in your late 70s/early 80s, when the annual risk of death, Alzheimer's, and other medical problems are
exponentially increasing. Voters intuit this, even if only through personal experiences with aging parents/relatives, so the age gap between Trump and Biden becomes relevant.
Confirming voters' intuition is that Biden holds fewer public appearances/interviews than any other modern president, by far. Ezra Klein's podcast counts fewer than 100 interviews Biden has done so far as president; Barack Obama had given more than 400 and Trump more than 300 at this same point in their presidencies. And the public performances Biden does give? Mediocre. Meanwhile Trump is out keeping up with the demands of a full time presidential campaign.
