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With polls showing voters' concerns over Biden's age, there are growing calls for him to prove his mental fitness ahead of a rematch with Trump.Michael Reynolds/EFE/ZUMA Get your

news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free _Mother Jones Daily_. The daughter of the once-oldest president, Ronald Reagan, who was 77 when he took

office, thinks cognitive tests for presidential candidates would be “a good idea,” she said in an interview that aired Sunday. “Just what we know about what age can do, it doesn’t always do

that, but it would probably be a good idea,” Patti Davis said on NBC’s _Meet the Press_, in response to a question from host Kristen Welker about whether she agreed with the prospect.  > 

WATCH: When Ronald Reagan was elected at 69, he was the oldest > person ever to be elected president. >  > Now his daughter, Patti Davis, says cognitive tests would be a > “good 

idea.” >  > Davis: “My father was 77 when he left office after two terms. It > seems so young now, doesn't it?” pic.twitter.com/wZO5KqO3Jd >  > — Meet the Press 

(@MeetThePress) February 18, 2024 Reagan was elected in 1980, when he was 69-years-old; by the end of his second term, in 1989, he was 77-years-old. (He announced his Alzheimer’s diagnosis

five years later, though his son, Ron, later alleged his father began suffering the effects a decade earlier, while campaigning for his second term.) “It seems so young now, doesn’t it?”

said Davis, who has written that she has never been a Republican and has heavily criticized Trump. Indeed, Reagan has since been surpassed as the oldest president by the two frontrunners for

the next election—the current and previous presidents. Trump was 70 when he was elected in 2016, and Biden was 78 when he took office. They’re now 77 and 81, respectively. Their advanced

ages have led to calls for cognitive tests—notably, from Trump’s GOP rival and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, who launched her campaign last year by calling for “mandatory

mental competency tests for politicians over 75 years old.” The combination of Trump’s lead over Biden in several polls, other polls showing voters concerns about Biden’s age and health, and

Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report issued earlier this month that described Biden as “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,” the issue of the president’s age has

taken center stage. Trump, of course, has made his own notable gaffes, including confusing Haley with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. But as the_ New York Times_ posited in a recent

report, Trump isn’t held to the same standard of professionalism and competence by many voters as Biden is, which may be why Biden’s flubs are more of a concern for voters.  On Friday,

_Times_ columnist Ezra Klein—who has spoken out in defense of Biden in the past—published a column urging Biden to drop out, writing that “his age is slowing him” in his re-election campaign

and proposing that Democrats could pick an alternative nominee at their convention. “Retirement can be, often is, a trauma,” Klein wrote. “But losing to Donald Trump would be far worse.” 

This underscores a point my colleague David Corn wrote about last week: that if concerns about Biden’s age are “prioritized in the press above the threat that Trump poses to American

democracy (and sensationalized), the national debate is warped and the republic imperiled.” David wrote about how “breathless coverage” by the press of concerns about Biden’s age have

obscured the importance of making sure Trump isn’t re-elected.  As David wrote:  > In a way, it is indeed absurd to have such a conversation about > Biden’s slips (if that’s all they 

are) when the presumptive GOP > nominee represents a clear and present danger. But if the most > important task at hand is to prevent a Trump restoration, should the > mission for 

Democrats and progressives be to promote Biden as best > they can (while highlighting the Trump threat) or find a way to > field a new guy or gal? The first choice means figuring out 

how to > overcome swing voters’ possible worries about Biden’s abilities. > (And the Biden campaign and the party ought to try to accurately > evaluate how deep these concerns are.)

 The second choice would > require Biden’s assent and, if granted, could spark political > chaos. In short, there’s no easy answer. But a cognitive test — which White House Press

Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre recently said will not be included in Biden’s upcoming physical — for both Biden _and_ Trump could show voters where their mental capacities stand. And that

might be our best bet for preserving democracy.