Bidens hint at 2024 run after being put on the spot by Emmanuel Macron

The Bidens hinted at a 2024 presidential run after being put on the spot by Emmanuel Macron, it has emerged.

It is the latest sign that Joe Biden is preparing to announce a campaign to secure a second term in office, following a strong showing for the Democrats in the mid-term elections.

During his state visit last week, the French president asked first lady Jill Biden if they were ready for another campaign, The New York Times reported.

Ms Biden reportedly said she and her husband were “absolutely” ready to run again in 2024, before they all joined in a toast to Mr Biden’s re-election.

Mr Biden, who turned 80 last month, has yet to make a formal announcement about running in 2024, and questions have continued to swirl over his health and age. If re-elected, he would be 86 years old at the end of his second term.

David Axelrod, a former chief strategist for President Barack Obama, said last week that Mr Biden’s age presented a real problem for his re-election prospects.

“If he were 60 and not 80, there would be absolutely no doubt,” he told The New York Times.

Mr Biden has repeatedly said he plans to run for a second term, and people close to the president say they expect him to make an official announcement early next year.

“He intends to run again,” Senator Chris Coons, a longtime friend of Mr Biden, told AFP.

“The president will make that decision, I expect, shortly after the holidays, but I expect the decision will be to do it,” his chief of staff, Ron Klain, told The Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council Summit on Monday.

But doctors and family will ultimately decide whether Mr Biden runs.

Mr Biden’s stumbles and frequent gaffes have led to claims he is unfit to run the country.

Yet his governing record and decision-making in one of the world’s hardest jobs paint a different picture. “Watch me,” as Mr Biden likes to say when asked about his fitness.

Americans will get a more scientific overview with the release of his official annual physical, the results of which are due at some point in the next few months.