The 2024 presidential race has seen both parties’ nominees bedeviled by concerns about their age and fitness. But after Biden’s decision to step aside on Sunday, Democrats have shed such concerns—and the words of Nikki Haley, who railed against gerontocracy during her campaign for the Republican nomination, have come back to haunt Donald Trump.
Haley was an early observer of the public’s dissatisfaction with both candidates’ ages, going so far as to predict that fortune would favor the party that first dropped their elderly candidate. After losing the New Hampshire primary in January, Haley took a shot at both presumptive nominees, prophesying that “the first party to retire its 80-year-old candidate is going to be the party that wins this election.”
FLASHBACK: Nikki Haley in January:
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) July 21, 2024
"The first party to retire its 80 year old candidate is going to be the one who wins this election." pic.twitter.com/fCJJXssvfF
While the 81-year-old Biden has certainly faced the brunt of age concerns recently, a July ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll found that 58 percent of Americans saw both Biden and Trump as “too old for a second term.” With Biden out of the race, Haley’s warning is being widely shared by Democrats celebrating the party’s newfound advantage against Trump, who is now the oldest nominee in U.S. history.
Of course, one wonders whether Haley, who has since “strongly endorsed” Trump, maintains her prediction. As to its prescience, we’ll have to wait until the election draws nearer to see.
