The poll numbers Donald Trump never wanted to see just dropped. A new survey puts the president’s mental sharpness rating uncomfortably close to Joe Biden’s.
New poll shows comparison of Donald Trump and Joe Biden
A new Strength in Numbers/Verasight poll reveals that 46 percent of Americans rate President Donald Trump’s mental sharpness as “poor.” The survey polled 1,514 U.S. adults from July 14 to 17, 2026. It carries a margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.
Former President Joe Biden received a slightly worse result in the same poll. Fifty percent of respondents rated Biden’s mental sharpness during his presidency as “poor.” The four-point gap between the two figures highlights growing public concern about Trump’s cognitive fitness.
Trump, however, still outperforms Biden on positive ratings in the survey. Twenty-one percent rated his mental sharpness as “excellent,” compared to just 7 percent for Biden. Meanwhile, 17 percent rated Trump as “good,” matching Biden’s identical 17 percent on that measure. A combined 38 percent gave Trump an “excellent” or “good” rating, versus 24 percent for Biden.
The poll arrives just weeks after Trump turned 80 in June 2026. Age-related concerns previously dominated coverage of Biden’s presidency and fueled Republican attacks during the 2024 election cycle. Now, similar scrutiny has shifted toward Trump as he enters his ninth decade in office.
White House spokesman Davis Ingle responded to the findings in a statement to Newsweek. He described the president as “the sharpest and most accessible President in American history,” per Newsweek. Ingle also contrasted Trump’s performance with the previous administration.
He stated that Democrats and legacy media “intentionally covered up Joe Biden’s serious mental and physical decline from the American people.” The poll suggests fitness-for-office concerns now extend across both parties’ most prominent leaders.
