Politics- President Donald Trump on Tuesday shared a meme mocking Joe Biden with a photo edited to appear as if Biden were in a nursing home, surrounded by other residents in wheelchairs.
- Trump and Biden are in a fierce battle for older Americans' votes. National polls have found dwindling support for the president among older voters.
- The meme also came amid intense criticism of Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which has disproportionately killed older Americans.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday shared an edited image of Joe Biden depicting the 77-year-old Democratic nominee as a nursing-home resident as national polls find dwindling support for the president among older voters.
In the meme, Biden's face is superimposed on an image of what appears to be several nursing-home residents in wheelchairs. Underneath, the letter P in "president" is crossed out so that the caption reads "Biden for resident."
—Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 14, 2020
Trump has recently made an effort to reconnect with older voters as polls have found significant shifts in their support away from Trump and toward Biden. The president last week tweeted a video in which he called seniors his "favorite people in the world" and described himself as one.
An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll conducted in late September and early October found Biden leading Trump by 27 points among registered voters over 65 — 62% to 35% — representing a 23-point swing toward Biden in one month. NBC News reported that the usually Republican-leaning group favored Trump by 8 points in its 2016 exit polls.
Even in the key battleground state of Florida, where Trump beat Hillary Clinton by 17 points among voters over 65 in 2016, polling has indicated that Trump and Biden are neck-and-neck. An AARP Florida poll published in September found 49% support for Biden among likely voters over 65 and 48% support for Trump.
A New York Times/Siena College poll of likely voters in Pennsylvania conducted in late September and early October found Biden leading Trump by 11 points among those over 65 and by 7 points overall. A WDIV/Detroit News poll of likely voters in Michigan conducted around the same time and cited by NBC News found Biden leading by 8.8 points overall, driven by a 22-point swing since early September among those over 65.
The shift comes amid growing disapproval of Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed over 215,000 people in the United States, according to data from John Hopkins University, and has disproportionately killed older Americans.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll of American adults conducted after Trump's discharge from the hospital for COVID-19 treatment last week found a record low approval of the president's handling of the pandemic: 59% said they disapproved, while 37% said they approved. Reuters said the net approval rating was the lowest since the poll began in March.