President Joe Biden has largely retreated from public view, holding no public events on 43 of the 75 days since ending his reelection campaign on July 21, according to an Axios report on Friday.
During the 32 days when Biden did make appearances, he scheduled only two events before 11 a.m., none before 10 a.m., and just five after 5 p.m., as per Axios’s review of his schedule.
Vice President Kamala Harris, seeking to distance herself from the Biden-Harris administration’s unpopular record, has held only one campaign event with Biden and rarely mentions him in speeches.
First lady Jill Biden has also been largely absent from the campaign trail, with sources telling Axios that Harris’s team has made little effort to involve her in events.
Acknowledging his unpopularity, Biden has privately agreed to follow the strategy laid out by Harris’s team, even if it means avoiding campaigning in certain states, Axios reports.
Most of Biden’s recent meetings with foreign leaders were scheduled between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. According to his aides, Biden can remain focused between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., but outside of those hours, he often struggles with fatigue and coherent speech.
Since July 21, Biden has given only two interviews and spent much of August on vacation.
“Being commander in chief is about far more than public events,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said, emphasizing that Biden “works around the clock, long before and after these times.”
Public interest in Biden has reached its lowest point since he took office, with Google Trends data showing a significant drop in searches about him over the last two months.
