Accepting Biden’s nomination while expecting him to lose is unacceptable.

Follow this authorEugene Robinson's opinions

In his four years as president, Trump didn’t just enact reactionary policies that took the nation backward, appoint Supreme Court justices who stripped away abortion rights, disrupt vital international alliances and generally act on grievance and whim. He went so far as to try to overturn a presidential election, inciting a violent crowd to storm the U.S. Capitol.

Trump faces state and federal felony charges for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, along with separate federal charges for allegedly absconding with sensitive classified documents. He has already been convicted of 34 state felony charges stemming from a hush money payment to an adult-film actress. His campaign speeches consist of lies, non sequiturs and incomprehensible ramblings. At 78, he, too, would be the oldest person ever elected president.

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That is a description of a candidate who should be trounced in a landslide. Yet the Post poll shows Trump and Biden tied at 46 percent. And this is one of the rosiest assessments of Biden’s prospects since his “bad night” debate performance; the RealClearPolitics average of polls has Trump ahead bythree points.

On this date in 2020, by contrast, Biden led Trump in the RCP average by nine points. Biden ended up winning the popular vote by 4.4 points.

For Democrats — and for the future of our democracy — these are not good numbers. Polls in the crucial swing states are even less promising.

It is impossible to ignore the debt that the Democratic Party owes to Biden. He not only came out of retirement to defeat Trump but went on to have one of the most impactful — and progressive — presidential terms of my lifetime. He absolutely deserves another. But can he win, when 85 percent of respondents in The Post’s poll say he is too old to serve four more years?

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It might not be impossible. Trump is also seen as too old, by 60 percent of voters. Biden’s campaign team can argue that the president’s deficit is within the........

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