President Biden will get his annual physical done Wednesday, the White House said, as questions about his age and ability to serve a second term hover over his reelection campaign.
Biden departed for Walter Reed Medical Center in Maryland on Wednesday morning, and the White House is expected to publicly release a written summary of his exam later in the day.
The president’s last physical exam was Feb. 16, 2023, when his doctor wrote Biden was a “healthy, vigorous, 80-year-old male” who was “fit for duty.”
Biden’s health will be closely watched as his general election campaign ramps up. He would be 82 at the start of a second term and 86 at the end of a potential second term.
Polling has shown many voters, including some Democrats, think Biden is too old to run again.
A new ABC News/Ipsos poll conducted earlier this month found that 86 percent of Americans believe he is too old to serve in office.
The White House has had to fend off attacks on Biden’s ability to do the job after a special counsel report cleared him of wrongdoing in his handling of classified documents but made repeated references to his poor memory.
Biden’s likely opponent, former President Trump, is 77, and has had his own verbal slips in recent weeks. Trump has said Biden is not too old to run again, but that he is “incompetent.”
“You got to take a look at the other guy, he’s about as old as I am, but he can’t remember his wife’s name,” Biden said in an interview with late-night host Seth Meyers this week, adding the age of Trump’s ideas were a problem.