A new poll has found that 89 percent of Americans are concerned about President Joe Biden's physical and mental fitness.
The NBC News poll was published on Tuesday — before Biden's Thursday night press conference addressing the issue.
The pollsters found 62 percent of registered voters said they have "major concerns," 14 percent have "moderate" concerns, and 13 percent have "minor" concerns that Biden does not have "the necessary mental and physical health to be president for a second term."
The poll was published before Special Counsel Robert Hur released his report on Biden's classified document case on Thursday. Hur said that Biden's mental fitness was part of his decision not to prosecute.
"We have also considered that, at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory," the report said. "Based on our direct interactions with and observations of him, he is someone for whom many jurors will want to identify reasonable doubt."
Biden held a press conference on Thursday evening, during which he referred to Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi as the president of Mexico.
After finishing reading his prepared speech from the teleprompter, Biden began taking questions from reporters who were present.
Biden took a question regarding Israel and Gaza.
The president said that the situation in Gaza has been "over the top," and then stated that the "president of Mexico," Egypt's President el-Sisi, did not want to open their border to allow in humanitarian aid. In remarks assuring the nation that his mental fitness and memory are good, Joe Biden refers to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi as the “president of Mexico”
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"As you know, initially, the president of Mexico, [El-]Sisi, did not want to open up the gate to allow humanitarian material to get in. I talked to him, I convinced him to open the gate," he said.
In another exchange, a reporter asked, "Mr. President, for months when you were asked about your age, you would respond with the words, ‘watch me.’ Many American people have been watching, and they have expressed concerns about your age."
"That is your judgment! That is your judgment," Biden replied, clearly agitated. "That is not the judgment of the press."
"They express concerns about your mental acuity, they say that you are too old. Mr. President, in December, you told me, there are many other Democrats who could defeat Donald Trump, so why does it have to be you now?" the reporter followed up.
Biden replied, "Because I’m the most qualified person in this country to be president of the United States and finish the job I started."
The poll was conducted among 1000 registered voters from January 26-30. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
