Less than a year out from Election Day, Democrats in Washington are still coming to terms with the 2024 cards they have been dealt: an extremely unpopular, octogenarian incumbent who is now losing many head-to-head swing-state polling matchups against indicted former president Donald Trump.

Intra-party concerns about the president’s advanced age are not new. But grumblings have grown a bit louder in recent days as congressional Democrats who don’t regularly interact with the 81-year-old president have observed him up close during White House holiday celebrations.

Behind closed doors and in hushed tones, a small cohort of elected Democrats who are feeling the heat of recent polls have started privately questioning whether Biden can “make it” to Election Day.

“My concern is heightened,” one House Democrat tells National Review after seeing him interact with other lawmakers at a White House holiday party, adding the president’s habit of mumbling in public settings and reliance on a teleprompter have done little to dispel concerns from voters that he is fit to serve another term: “Half the time I don’t know what he’s saying.”