The US presidential election will be held in more than seven months, but the second duel between Donald Trump and Joe Biden has already begun, without, however, causing much excitement among the voters mainly due to the advanced age of the two opponents.

Their duel is predicted to be long and fierce, with the physical and mental state of both under the microscope.

As both are advanced in age – Biden is 81 and Trump is 77 – whoever wins the Nov. 5 election will be the oldest sworn-in president in US history. This prospect does not make voters happy, according to opinion polls.

Whoever wins, “it’s going to be chaotic,” predicts Kadir Green, a 25-year-old voter, speaking of a choice “between Scylla and Charybdis.” For this reason “for now” he has decided to stay away.

Biden and Trump “weakened”

The last time the US election campaign lasted that long was in 2000, when 243 days before the election a duel between George W. Bush and Al Gore was confirmed.

The 2024 election campaign will last six days less than the one in 2000, but this time voters will be closely watching the performance of both older candidates.

Trump has already started impersonating his Democratic opponent, pretending to lose his words, stumbling or passing out on stage — evidence, according to the Republican, that Biden is unfit to govern.

“Age matters: Biden looks older in 2024 than he did in 2020, and he’s fighting hard to counter the notion that he’s no longer in his prime,” says Mike Cullinani, professor of political history at Dickinson University.

But also O Trump has been under the microscope as he has started mixing up the names of leaders.

Each candidate’s campaign team watches their opponent closely and waits for every blunder, every slip-up, every moment of confusion to present as evidence of their diminishing abilities.

Besides, there are also Trump’s legal adventures, as four trials are pending against him. His first trial, in the case of paying money to a former porn star, begins on March 25 in New York.

“This will definitely be a different election (…) full of surprises,” according to Political Communication Professor Joshua Darr. “Biden and Trump look weakened,” he adds.

10 billion dollars

The 2024 US presidential and congressional elections are also expected to be the most expensive in the country’s history, with estimates suggesting that their cost may exceed $10 billion.

For months, Americans will watch campaign ads, with one candidate portraying a country worried about inflation and rising illegal immigration, and the other expressing outrage at the blow to women’s right to abortion.

For now Trump appears to be winning in swing statesthe so-called “swing states”.

Biden insists that his opponent is “determined to destroy” American democracy and warns that a second Trump term in the presidency will bring “chaos, discord and darkness” to the US.

The Republican has already pledged to release, if elected, supporters jailed for their involvement in the attack on the Capitol in January 2021. A proposal that so far does not appear to have dented his popularity.

But to win, Trump will have to woo voters beyond his base—the sea of ​​red hats that follow him to his campaign rallies—and convince more moderate voters that he’s not running just to avoid criminal charges against him.