President Joe Biden has held fewer press conferences and media interviews than any of the last seven presidents at this point in their terms, a study by presidential scholar Martha Joynt Kumar has revealed.
This is important because the 81-year-old Biden is doing a rare interview with ABC News on Friday, and there are growing concerns about his age and mental sharpness, with some even accusing his team of hiding his true condition, Axios reported.
Biden's approach to the media is very different from former President Donald Trump, who often criticized the press, but was still willing to talk frequently.
Kumar, who serves as a professor emerita at Towson University, tracked press conferences, media interviews, and informal Q&A sessions between presidents and small groups of reporters.
According to her data, Biden held only 36 press conferences during his term, either alone or with other leaders. Only one of the former presidents, Ronald Reagan, who served from 1981 to 1989, had fewer press conferences with 25.
Biden has also given fewer media interviews than any president since Reagan, with just 125. George W. Bush had the second fewest with 166. The interviews include different types of direct conversations with reporters, like phone calls and off-the-record meals.
However, Biden has done more informal Q&A sessions with small groups of reporters than any recent president, except Trump. Kumar counted 588 such sessions for Biden, compared to Trump's 664. Barack Obama had only 103 of these informal engagements.
"President Biden has done 45 interviews this year — including with CNN, ABC News, Time and Univision — and engaged in 588 question-and-answer sessions with the White House press corps during his term," White House spokesperson Andrew Bates told Axios.
Bates further said that the president "is also meeting Americans where they are through innovative digital strategies and constituency and local media," adding that Biden "always stood up for the critical role of the free press in our democracy and looks forward to his next press conference next week."
A new poll revealed earlier this week that more than seven in 10 voters have already picked the candidate they will be voting for in the upcoming U.S. presidential election.
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