Joe Biden trips and stumbles three times boarding Air Force One 

US President Joe Biden trips as he boards Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland

Credit: AFP

President Joe Biden stumbled three times and fell on the steps of Air Force One on Friday on his way to a trip to Georgia.

The 78-year-old — the oldest president in US history — appeared to struggle as he boarded the presidential plane.

It was not immediately clear what tripped Mr Biden up the first time, but shortly after recovering he fell twice more before dusting himself off. Security officials, meanwhile, looked  on with concern from the ground.  

He recovered to give a salute at the top of the stairs before departing to meet with Asian American community leaders in the wake of the massage parlour massacre in Atlanta, Georgia.

In November, the commander-in-chief suffered a hairline fracture in his right foot while playing with his rescue dog Major, requiring him to wear an orthopedic boot for several weeks.

Mr Biden, who has said he uses a Peloton bike to keep fit, often makes a point of jogging in a show of his fitness.  

WATCH: President Joe Biden stumbles and falls up the stairs while boarding Air Force One pic.twitter.com/1m7tecpsxc

— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) March 19, 2021

However, questions have been raised about Mr Biden’s mental, and physical, acumen. The president on Thursday accidentally called Kamala Harris, Vice President, “President Harris”.

Throughout the election campaign he has engaged in numerous malapropisms, slurred words, mispronouncing words and misidentifying people, such as calling his wife Jill his sister.

Despite this, a new poll shows the number of Americans who approve of Mr Biden has grown steadily since he took office, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling released on Friday, driven by concrete steps his administration has taken to address the public health and economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The March 17-18 national opinion poll found that 59 per cent of adults in the US approved of Biden’s overall job performance, while 35 per cent disapproved and 6 per cent said they were not sure.

The number of adults who approve of Mr Biden is up by about 4 percentage points since a poll that ran in late January, and the increase is largely due to a rise in Mr Biden’s popularity among independents.

Mr Biden and Ms Harris will later meet community leaders and state lawmakers from the Asian-American and Pacific Islander community in Atlanta, Georgia, to hear concerns about the killings and discuss a rise in anti-Asian hate crimes.