Biden says in rare print interview he’ll beat Trump but polls say otherwise

In a rare print interview, Joe Biden addressed fears over his chances of victory in the coming US presidential election and said he was “the only one who has ever beat” his likely Republican challenger Donald Trump, adding: “And I’ll beat him again.”

But the US president was voicing a conviction at odds with most current polling – clear majorities think that at 81 he is too old for a second term while narrow majorities put Trump ahead in a general election match-up.

Biden was in conversation with Evan Osnos of the New Yorker whose short biography of Biden was published in 2020, the year the former senator and vice-president secured the Democratic nomination at his third attempt and beat Trump.

Osnos wrote: “Now, having reached the apex of power, [Biden] gives off a conviction that borders on serenity – a bit too much serenity for Democrats who wonder if he can still beat the man with whom his legacy will be forever entwined.”

“Given the doubts, I asked, wasn’t it a risk to say, ‘I’m the one to do it’?

“He shook his head and said: ‘No. I’m the only one who has ever beat him. And I’ll beat him again.’”

Poised to secure the Republican nomination after the Super Tuesday primaries this week, Trump is only three-and-a-half years Biden’s junior. But even amid public slips and gaffes every bit as glaring as those by Biden, fewer Americans think Trump is too old to return to office.

Trump also faces unprecedented legal jeopardy, arising from his conduct in business, on the campaign trail and in office.

Of 91 criminal charges, 17 concern election subversion, 40 arise from Trump’s retention of classified information and 34 are related to hush-money payments made to silence an adult film star who claimed an affair.

Trump also faces