President Joe Biden’s age has affected his performance during his presidency, some AACC students, regardless of political affiliation, said. 

Some students said they noticed flaws and lack of structure in his speech over time, especially during the president’s debate against then-candidate Donald Trump.

“He seemed to stumble over his words a lot, get a little confused, maybe a little tired.” Republican Alexis Schlichting, a second-year environmental science student, said. “If he would have came into presidency a little bit younger, things would have been different.”

Shortly after the debate, Biden withdrew his candidacy for his second term, and endorsed Vice President Kamala Haris, who went on to lose the election.

Second-year physical therapy assistant student Timmie Wilson, who voted for Harris, said Biden is “pretty much up there in age, but he’s … visibly there to where you can see … he’s starting to decline some so his [debate] answers were just drawn out.”

Some students said Biden’s cognitive decline seemed to increase from the time he took office until the end of his campaign.

Second-year early childhood development student Emma Dean, who voted for Harris, agreed.

“I definitely know that his age was a contributing factor to why he dropped out of his reelection campaign,” Dean said.

Second-year transfer studies student Bobby Piemeier, who voted for Harris, noticed the decline as long ago as the 2020 presidential election.

“There’s been a pretty clear cognitive decline from him,” Piemeier said. “You could definitely see it in that first presidential debate. You can just compare it just down from earlier.”

Psychology student Kayley Walsh, who voted for Harris, said she started changing the TV channel if Biden was speaking because she felt embarrassed for him as the effects of his age started to show.

“Because every time I looked at it, [I] was … all red,” Walsh said. “Yeah, I’m changing the channel or get all stressed out.”