new generation of leadersbidens verbal flubs have been the stuff of legend throughout his fivedecade political career so sussing out the impact of age on his acuity is a guessing game for armchair gerontologists as dr s jay olshansky an aging expert puts itin the distorted mirrors of social media commentary every slip is magnified into supposed proof of senilitya moment of silent reflection by biden in a meeting is presented as the president nodding offall of that went into donald trumps quiver of falsehoods when he announced tuesday he will seek the presidency againsome allies see bidens blunders as an increasing vulnerability in the eyes of voters as hes grown olderin an ap votecast survey of the electorate this month fully 58 of voters said he does not have the mental capability to serve effectively as presidentthat was a grim picture of his standing now not just looking ahead to another potential term only 34 said hes a strong leaderthose findings come alongside notably low approval ratings in league with trumps at this point of their presidenciestwo months before the 2020 election olshansky at the university of illinois chicago published a paper that predicted both biden and trump were bound to maintain their good health beyond the end of this presidential termbased on a scientific teams evaluation of available medical records family history and other information the paper further concluded that both men are probably superagers a subgroup of people who maintain their mental and physical functioning and tend to live longer than the average person their agenothing has changed olshanskys mind about either of themwhile president biden may chronologically be 80 years old biologically he probably isnt he said and biological age is far more important than chronological age he calls biden a classic example of everything thats good about aging and so his age i think should be almost completely irrelevantbiden is already in the club of high achievers for people his age unlike 92 of people 75 and over in the us he still has a job not to mention a mightily demanding oneand hes been on a roll the november elections produced the best result for a democratic presidents party in midterms in decades despite the poison pill of high inflation as democrats kept control of the senate narrowly lost the house in defiance of expectations of a rout and won several competitive governors races in key statesthe president also sealed a string of consequential legislative victories in recent months on climate infrastructure health care expansion military aid to ukraine and morebiden says he begins most days with an 8 am workout when he is usually joined by his personal trainer and physical therapist drew contreras if he doesnt ride his peloton bikeif i let it go for a week i feel it he told the smartless podcast recently i used to be able to go for a week and nothing would changewhite house aides say biden reads his briefing book deep