Voters aren’t buying the Biden administration’s rosy narrative about the former president’s mental sharpness.
A Fox News survey from June 13-16, 2025, exposes a deep public skepticism, with 68% of registered voters convinced the administration hid the truth about Joe Biden’s cognitive decline. The findings poke a hole in the carefully curated image of a vigorous leader.
The survey, conducted with 1,003 voters, shows most knew Biden was slipping long before his shaky June 2024 debate performance. It reveals 69% of respondents spotted his decline earlier, with 28% clocking it from day one of his presidency. This isn’t hindsight; it’s a public that felt gaslit.
Pollsters from Beacon Research and Shaw & Company Research reached voters through landlines, cellphones, and online texts, ensuring a broad sample.
The data, weighted for age, race, and education, carries a ±3% margin of error. It’s a snapshot of a nation that’s been whispering about Biden’s fitness for years.
Back in November 2021, 53% of voters already thought Biden’s age was hobbling his presidency. Even then, over a quarter of Democrats admitted concern, a crack in the party’s unified front. The numbers only grew uglier from there.
By the 2022 midterms, 57% of voters doubted Biden’s mental capability, per a Fox News Voter Analysis. Fast-forward to July 2024, and that figure hit 65%. The trendline screams what many suspected: the administration’s silence was louder than its denials.
Party lines tell a story, too. While 81% of Republicans and 75% of Independents call the administration dishonest, 52% of Democrats agree—hardly a ringing endorsement. Loyalty can’t mask the unease when half your base smells a cover-up.
The survey finds voters split on digging deeper. Half want Congress to probe whether Biden’s advisors made key decisions behind his back, and 52% back investigating if they used an autopen without his knowledge. These aren’t fringe concerns; they’re questions about who was really running the show.
Yet, not everyone’s eager to relitigate the past. A slim majority—55%—says it’s time to move on from probing a potential cover-up, with 49% opposing inquiries into advisors’ decision-making. The divide reflects a nation torn between justice and exhaustion.
Democrats, unsurprisingly, are less keen on investigations. Only 20% support probing a cover-up, and 25% back looking into autopen use or advisors’ overreach. It’s a party clinging to unity while voters demand clarity.
Biden’s favorability has taken a beating. In June 2025, only 43% view him positively, down from 54% in April 2021, with a net favorability of -13 points. The slide from a +10 net in 2021 to -19 in January 2025 is a legacy in freefall.
Even Democrats are cooling. Just 75% hold a positive view in June 2025, a steep drop from 95% four years earlier. When your own team’s enthusiasm wanes, the narrative of a strong leader crumbles.
“Most knew he was losing it and had factored this into their vote choice long before the presidential debate,” says pollster Daron Shaw. That’s a polite way of saying voters weren’t fooled by the spin. They saw through the curtain long before it parted.
Shaw adds, “Biden’s reputation and legacy are taking a hit as the real history of his administration is revealed.” But “taking a hit” understates it; the public’s trust is shattered when 68% believe they were lied to. The damage is done, and the questions linger.
House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer is seizing the moment, pushing probes into whether Biden’s staff hid his decline and misused an autopen for executive actions. It’s a move that resonates with the 52% who want answers about unauthorized signatures. Comer’s not chasing shadows; he’s following the public’s lead.
