The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 72% of Likely U.S. Voters believe it’s a serious scandal that White House staffers were aware of Biden’s declining mental condition but worked to conceal his condition from the public and members of Congress, including 48% who consider the scandal Very Serious. Just 23% don’t think the cover-up of Biden’s condition is a serious scandal. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
Recent reporting – including a new book co-authored by CNN anchor Jake Tapper – have revealed the extent of efforts by Biden administration officials to hide the former president’s decline. However, 63% of voters believe it’s likely that many major media journalists were aware of Biden’s declining mental condition, but chose to help cover it up, including 42% who say it’s Very Likely. Twenty-seven percent (27%) don’t consider it likely that the media were complicit in covering up Biden’s condition, and 10% are not sure.
Among voters who think the White House concealment of Biden’s mental impairment is a Very Serious scandal, 74% say it is Very Likely the media were aware of Biden’s decline but chose to cover it up.
Only 21% of voters believe that, if Biden had been elected again in 2024, he would have been mentally and physically capable of serving another four years as president. Sixty percent (60%) don’t think Biden would have been capable of serving four more years in the White House, and 18% are not sure.
Forty-one percent (41%) say Biden’s mental condition was not a problem when he was first elected president but declined while he was in office, while 44% believe that Biden’s mental condition was already going downhill before he ever got elected in 2020. Another 14% are not sure.
Fifty-six percent (56%) of Democrats, 27% of Republicans and 40% of voters not affiliated with either major party think Biden’s mental condition wasn’t a problem when he was first elected president, while 68% of Republicans, 22% of Democrats and 48% of unaffiliated voters say Biden’s mental condition was already going downhill before the 2020 election.
Eight-five percent (85%) of Republicans, 60% of Democrats and 71% of unaffiliated voters believe it’s a serious scandal that White House staffers were aware of Biden’s declining mental condition but worked to conceal his condition from the public and members of Congress.
Eight-three percent (83%) of Republicans, 43% of Democrats and 63% of unaffiliated voters consider it at least somewhat likely that many major media journalists were aware of Biden’s declining mental condition, but chose to help cover it up.
Seventy-eight percent (78%) of Republicans, 40% of Democrats and 66% of unaffiliated voters think if Biden had been elected again in 2024, he would not have been mentally and physically capable of serving another four years as president.
Majorities of both men (63%) and women voters (58%) don’t think Biden would have been capable of serving another four years in the White House, but significantly more men (68%) than women voters (58%) say it’s likely the media chose to help cover up Biden’s mental impairment.
Seventy-one percent (71%) of whites, 66% of black voters, 80% of Hispanics and 76% of other minorities consider the White House concealment of Biden’s mental decline at least a somewhat serious scandal. Hispanics are most likely to suspect that many major media journalists were aware of Biden’s declining mental condition, but chose to help cover it up.
Among those who voted for Donald Trump in last year’s election, 85% don’t believe Biden would have been capable of serving another four years in the White House. Kamala Harris voters are evenly divided between those who think Biden could have served four more years and those who say he couldn’t (both 35%), while 30% are not sure.
The survey of 1,012 U.S. Likely Voters was conducted on May 14-15 and 18, 2025 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
- Joe Biden cognitive decline
- Joe Biden cancer
- Cover-up scandal
- Democrat party
- media ethics
- Jake Tapper book
- 2024 Election
- Kamala Harris
- Donald Trump campaign
- Biden White House staffers
