Much of the discussion over whether President Joe Biden will drop out of the 2024 presidential race centers on his increasingly obvious age-related issues. But a potentially more serious problem awaits Biden, the latest I&I/TIPP Poll suggests: Strong evidence that he illegally profited from public office while vice president under former President Barack Obama.

At 81 years of age and with painful difficulties handling his official duties, Biden’s waning mental acuity has become a serious issue. But while age and a record low approval rating are major impediments to Biden’s reelection, the pile of evidence amassed in Congress’ investigation into Biden’s and son Hunter’s legally questionable business dealings could prove lethal to his presidency.

I&I/TIPP posed the following question to U.S. voters in August of 2023: “A congressional committee claims it has strong evidence that President Biden and his family took millions of dollars in bribes from foreign nations. If those claims turn out to be true, President Biden should:”

Voters were given a choice of possible answers: “Resign immediately,” “Be impeached and removed from office,” “Be allowed to finish his term in office, but not run again,” “Run again in 2024, regardless of the findings,” and “Not sure.”

A strong majority of 67% in our poll suggested that President Joe Biden should either be impeached (43%) or resign immediately (24%) if the charges prove true. Just 15% said Biden should “Be allowed to finish his term in office, but not run again,” and another 8% said “Run again in 2024, regardless of the findings.” One in six (17%) weren’t sure.

The most recent I&I/TIPP national online poll was taken from Jan. 3-5 included 1,401 adults, with a +/-2.6 percentage-point margin of error.

Have things changed since mid-summer? Not much.

As of January 2024, 62% say Biden should either resign (25%) or be impeached (37%) for his misdeeds, with a plurality of Democrats (42%) and strong majorities of Republicans (84%) and independents (62%) agreeing.

It should be noted that of the 36 demographic groups we routinely track each month, apart from Democrats (44%), in January only African-American voters (41%) and self-described liberals (46%) were below 50% on the “resign/impeach” questions.

Of the remaining 38% of the responses, which include only the least-punitive responses, 17% said Biden should be allowed to finish his term, but not run again, while just 10% said he should be able to run, regardless of what Congress finds. Another 11% said they were “not sure.”

I&I/TIPP asked one more question: “Do you support or oppose the House of Representatives launching an impeachment inquiry against President Biden.”

A clear majority, 54%, said they either supported such a move “strongly” (36%) or “somewhat” (18%), while 33% opposed it either strongly (20%) or somewhat (13%). Another 13% said they were “not sure.”

These questions aren’t moot. While the bad news about Biden’s possible misconduct subsided during the holiday season, it’s come roaring back in the New Year. And, if anything, the growing evidence of possible Biden family corruption has only grown in the past half year.

House Republicans threatened a contempt of Congress charge against Hunter Biden for refusing to testify. But Biden let it be known through his lawyer on Jan. 12 that he would testify behind closed doors if a new subpoena were issued, asserting that the earlier subpoena for him to appear before lawmakers was “legally invalid.”

The revival of attention to the troubling evidence of at least $21 million paid to Biden family members by foreign governments and government-allied businesses is likely to further damage Biden’s “middle-class Joe” persona in the upcoming election.

Right now, the Biden administration’s position seems to be “ignore it, and maybe it will go away.”

“Of the 337 scandal-related questions that White House reporters asked, (Karine) Jean-Pierre provided a definitive answer to just eight of them (2.37%),” senior research analyst and Media Editor Bill D’Agostino of the conservative-leaning Media Research Center asserted in a recent study. “This figure tracks very closely with our findings from the first half of 2023, in which the press secretary answered only six out of 252 questions (2.38%).”

Fox News, in reporting on the MRC study, noted:

Despite campaigning on restoring norms in the White House following the Trump years, Biden has granted little access to the press since he took office. Biden held fewer press conferences than every president in recent memory. He granted even fewer interviews.

Republican leaders in Congress launched their own investigation of Biden’s possible corruption while in office, specifically while serving as Obama’s No. 2.

Last September, in a devastating report, House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., argued that “overwhelming evidence” of Biden’s corruption means he should be impeached.

“Evidence reveals that then-Vice President Joe Biden spoke, dined, and developed relationships with his family’s foreign business targets,” according to a Comer press release dated Sept. 23 of last year. “These business targets include foreign oligarchs who sent millions of dollars to his family. It also includes a Chinese national who wired a quarter of a million dollars to his son.”

Moreover, after denying his family made money in China, the “House Oversight Committee uncovered bank wires revealing how the Bidens received millions from Chinese companies with significant ties to the Chinese intelligence and the Chinese Communist Party.”

As Politico noted in a November “special report,” despite repeated denials by Joe Biden and those who represent him, “in recent months, as congressional Republicans have opened an impeachment inquiry and controversies related to Hunter Biden continue to be litigated in the courts and in the public square, a steady trickle of revelations have contradicted the president’s denials.”

If found to have been engaged in influence peddling with foreign powers, Biden could be in deep trouble. It’s not just an impeachable offense, it’s a felony.

“If the president knew his family was engaged in ‘influence peddling,’ the president by definition is corrupt. The current defense doesn’t have the legs to carry the president out of the scandal,” Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley told Newsweek in late December. “Factually, it’s becoming more difficult to see how the president wasn’t aware of the influence peddling.”

Or, as a piece in the online journal 1945 concluded in its headline, “The Joe Biden Corruption Disaster Finally Exploded.”

As more information tumbles out of the ongoing investigation, it seems highly likely that Biden and his family will face some kind of serious legal reckoning — whether through impeachment (will Republicans in Congress drop impeachment and just let Biden self-destruct on his own?), or actual corruption charges leading to a public trial.

Either way, as I&I/TIPP Poll data show, American voters haven’t forgotten. And if Biden and his family face legal consequences for what many legal analysts agree is corrupt behavior, losing the 2024 election might be the least of Joe Biden’s problems.

I&I/TIPP publishes timely, unique, and informative data each month on topics of public interest. TIPP’s reputation for polling excellence comes from being the most accurate pollster for the past five presidential elections.

Terry Jones is an editor of Issues & Insights. His four decades of journalism experience include serving as national issues editor, economics editor, and editorial page editor for Investor’s Business Daily.

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1. Hamas Says Many Hostages Likely Killed, Rest “In Great Danger” – AFP

“The fate of many of the enemy’s hostages and detainees has become unknown in recent weeks, and the rest have all entered the tunnel of the unknown due to the Zionist aggression,” a spokesman for the group’s armed wing, Abu Obeida, said in a televised statement.

Abu Obeida said the group’s allies from the “axis of resistance” had informed Hamas they would “expand their attacks” against Israeli troops in the coming days.

2. Biden “Running Out” Of Patience With Bibi As Gaza War Hits 100 Days – Axios

Biden hasn’t spoken to Netanyahu in the 20 days since a tense Dec. 23 call, which a frustrated Biden ended with the words: “This conversation is over.” They had spoken almost every other day during the war’s first two months.

Before Biden hung up, Netanyahu had rejected his request that Israel release the Palestinian tax revenues it’s withholding.

3. U.S. Shoots Down Houthi Missile Fired At American Warship – Al Arabiya

The U.S. military said its forces shot down a cruise missile fired at an American destroyer warship from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.

The attack appears to be the first against a U.S. destroyer amid a growing number of missile and drone strikes or attempted strikes by the Houthis on what they deem Israeli-linked shipping on the key Red Sea trade route.

Earlier, the United States denied Yemeni Houthis reports that it carried out new attacks Sunday on Houthi targets in Yemen.

4. Hezbollah Leader Says Security Of All Shipping Harmed After U.S. Strikes On Houthis – Reuters

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, whose group is a leading part of an Iran-aligned regional alliance that includes the Houthis, said Houthi targeting of ships belonging to Israel or heading to its ports would continue.

The Iran-backed Lebanese group said that U.S. actions in the Red Sea would harm the security of all shipping as the area had now become a conflict zone, saying the Houthis of Yemen would keep up attacks despite U.S. and British strikes.

5. Namibia Condemns Germany For Defending Israel In ICJ Genocide Case – Al Jazeera

Namibia has criticized Germany’s “shocking decision” to support Israel in the genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) brought by South Africa.

The Namibia presidency slammed Germany for failing to draw lessons from its own genocide against Namibian people in the early 20th century. The statement claimed that Germany committed the first genocide of the 20th century in Namibia between 1904 and 1908, in which tens of thousands of innocent Namibians died in the most inhumane and brutal conditions.

6. War In Ukraine Having Consequences For Russia’s Health-Care System, U.K. Says – dpa

According to British intelligence reports, Russian civilians are most likely feeling the effects of the war via cuts to their own healthcare system.

Russian media had reported that the general public across the country was having problems accessing hospital services, the ministry wrote. Medicines such as antibiotics are also in short supply. The war probably contributes significantly to this situation, as wounded soldiers must be treated in hospitals.

7. Britain To Deploy 20,000 Troops For NATO Exercise In Europe – UPI

Britain announced it would deploy 20,000 troops across Europe during the first half of the year to participate in NATO’s largest military exercise since the end of the Cold War.

Exercise Steadfast Defender was announced in September and will take place in Germany, Poland, and the three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania as a deterrent against Russian aggression. It also marks the 75th anniversary of the military alliance’s founding.

8. China’s Crucial Role In Ukraine Peace Talks Discussed Ahead Of World Economic Forum – Reuters

Ukraine’s presidential chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said it was important that Russian ally China was at the table when Kyiv convenes further meetings on its peace formula.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang will lead a delegation at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week. Asked if President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would meet Li, Yermak told a news briefing, “Let’s see”, adding he had not seen the Ukrainian president’s final agenda.

9. China’s 2023 Economic Growth Weakest In 3 Decades – AFP

China’s economy likely grew at its weakest annual rate for more than three decades in 2023, data is expected to show, as a crippling property crisis, sluggish consumption and global uncertainties battered it.

A group of ten experts forecast China’s gross domestic product (GDP) to have expanded by 5.2 percent, representing the lowest rate since 1990, outside the Covid-19 pandemic.

10. Biden: ‘We Do Not Support Independence’ For Taiwan – Politico

President Joe Biden had a blunt message after voters in Taiwan elected a new president: “We do not support independence” for Taiwan.

Biden’s words reinforced the administration’s position on Taiwan’s new president, Lai Ching-te, who has faced strong opposition from China over his calls for independence.

The administration has clarified that while it does not support Taiwanese independence, it favors dialogue between Taipei and Beijing and expects differences to be resolved peacefully and without coercion.

11. Taiwan Chip Stocks Rise After Lai Vows To Further Boost Industry – Nikkei Asia

Stocks in Taiwan’s world-leading chipmakers rose after the president-elect, Lai Ching-te, vowed to boost the democratic island’s flagship semiconductor industry further.

Lai pledged significant support for Taiwan’s semiconductor industry, a global powerhouse that ranks second only after the U.S. in revenue. TSMC, the world’s leading contract chipmaker, sits at the heart of this success, powering chip-developing giants like Apple, Nvidia, Qualcomm, and Google.

12. Iraqi Parliament Sticks By Resolution To Boot Out US Forces – Al Mayadeen

Iraq’s parliament has announced that it will stick to a resolution passed in January 2020, urging the Iraqi government to expel the US-led coalition forces from the country.

Deputy parliament speaker Mohsen al-Mandalawi said in a parliament session a day earlier that the resolution adopted four years ago to expel coalition forces is “a fundamental and irreversible piece of legislation,” which will not be changed as it has the support of the Iraqi people and government.

13. Unpredictable Year Ahead For World Economy Amid Geopolitical Strife, Economic Turmoil – Reuters

A survey of top economists found that the global economy faces a year of subdued growth prospects and uncertainty stemming from geopolitical strife, tight financing conditions, and the disruptive impact of artificial intelligence.

Some 56 percent of those surveyed expect overall global economic conditions to weaken this year, with a high degree of regional divergence. While majorities saw moderate or stronger growth in China and the United States, there was broad consensus that Europe would muster only weak or very weak growth.

14. ‘AI To Impact 60% Of Advanced Economy Jobs’ – AFP

“Advanced economies, some emerging markets, are going to see 60 percent of their jobs impacted,” IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said, citing an International Monetary Fund report.

The IMF report notes that half of the jobs impacted by AI will be negatively affected. “Your job may disappear altogether – not good or artificial intelligence may enhance your job, so you actually will be more productive, and your income level may go up,” Georgieva said.

15. North Korea Claims To Have Successfully Launched Solid-Fuel Hypersonic IRBM – Yonhap

North Korea said Monday it successfully test-fired a solid-fuel intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) carrying a hypersonic warhead the previous day as part of regular activities to develop powerful weapons systems.

“The test-fire never affected the security of any neighboring country and had nothing to do with the regional situation,” the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

16. U.S. Condemns North Korea’s Missile Launch As Breach Of UNSC Resolutions – Yonhap

The United States condemned North Korea’s latest ballistic missile launch as a violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions while reiterating America’s “ironclad” security commitment to South Korea and Japan.

17. UN Peacekeepers Begin Long Process Of Leaving DR Congo After 25 Years – RFI

Despite ongoing violence in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the government has been calling for months for the withdrawal of UN peacekeepers, who were first deployed in the country in 1999.

In December, the UN Security Council voted to comply with Kinshasa’s demand for a gradual pullout. The operation is due to be completed by the end of the year.

18. Universal Coronavirus Vaccine May Save Lives, Money In Future Pandemic – UPI Health

A new study argues that a universal coronavirus vaccine could have saved millions of lives and billions of dollars if one had been available before the pandemic.

Further, researchers say a universal vaccine- one that targets parts of the virus common to all coronaviruses- could still be a game-changer in the future.

Republished with permission from TIPP Insights