President Biden’s travel compares favorably to Trump, Obama

It was a whirlwind day on the road for Biden, who at 81 is the oldest president ever and has faced questions about his activity level and stamina. And the schedule wasn’t that unusual. A Globe analysis found that Biden’s travel in 2023 stacked up comparably with his two immediate predecessors in the third years of their presidencies — and in some measures exceeded them — with the pace likely to pick up as he campaigns for reelection in November.
WASHINGTON — President Biden stepped out of the White House with his overcoat draped over his arm at 10 a.m. on Dec. 5 and boarded a Marine helicopter to take him to a Maryland military base, where he got on Air Force One for a trip to Boston. After a trio of campaign fund-raisers there , he landed back at the White House nearly 12 hours later, answering a few questions from reporters before walking inside.
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The Boston trip was one of 83 Biden took last year outside of Washington, significantly fewer than the 113 taken by Donald Trump in 2019 but close to the 89 trips by Barack Obama in 2011, according to data from official presidential schedules, White House media pool reports, and a travel archive compiled by former CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller.
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Trump’s number, however, was inflated by many more trips than Biden and Obama in the immediate vicinity of the nation’s capital, including 35 to his Northern Virginia golf club. Biden’s travel included more trips to personal properties, vacation sites, and the Camp David presidential retreat than Trump or Obama.
Biden visited 29 different states last year, compared to Trump’s 30 and Obama’s 31, each of them heavily emphasizing states they had won as they prepared for an election year. Biden did more foreign travel, taking trips to 14 different countries or US territories last year. Trump went to nine and Obama went to 10 in their third years. Biden also traveled to two active war zones — Ukraine and Israel — while Trump went to one in 2019, Afghanistan. Obama went to none in 2011.
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Biden also spent more time outside of Washington. The 223 full or partial days he was away from the nation’s capitol exceeded Trump’s 197 and Obama’s 153. More than half of Biden’s trips last year — 47 — involved nights away from the White House. That compares to 27 for Trump and 23 for Obama.
“There’s much talk about Biden’s age, but he has traveled aggressively and extensively just like many of his predecessors have,” said Brendan J. Doherty, a political science professor at the Naval Academy who has studied presidential travel.
Still, Republicans have criticized Biden for his travel, both for not doing enough of it and doing too much.
“President Biden needs to get out of Delaware and Washington, D.C., go see the rest of the United States and see how our communities are getting by under his economic policies,” Senator Joni Ernst, an Iowa Republican, told Fox News in September. “For heaven’s sake, Biden’s got to get out of the basement.”
The Republican National Committee has hammered Biden for his frequent trips to his two Delaware homes and other vacation spots, including Camp David. The RNC claimed he spent 142 days last year on vacation, including trips to Nantucket, Lake Tahoe, and St. Croix.
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“Unlike Joe Biden, everyday Americans can’t run away to the beach or Camp David when things get tough,” RNC spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement to the Globe. “Biden’s not up for the job, and Americans deserve better.”
The RNC figures include a broad definition of vacation, with White House officials and experts noting that a president is always on the job and can perform his duties from anywhere.
The Globe analysis found Biden spent parts of 114 days at his personal properties or vacation sites last year, compared with 106 for Trump and just 23 for Obama. Biden has made more frequent use of Camp David, which can be a secure location for respite or official meetings. He spent parts of 30 days there, while Obama spent 17 and Trump just 7, the Globe found.
White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said Biden’s “drive” has delivered “historic results for middle class families” as well as restored US alliances around the globe.
“President Biden is eager to keep fighting for every American’s future, and continue sharing, in-person, the progress we’re making all over the country, while continuing to stand up for our interests all over the world,” Bates said.
Biden reportedly has pushed to travel more and current and former staffers say his stamina is not a question despite his advanced age. Biden turned 81 in November. Trump turned 73 in June 2019 and Obama turned 50 in August of 2011.
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“He travels in order to be more effective at what he’s doing,” said Ted Kaufman, a longtime Biden congressional aide who later was appointed as his Senate replacement when he became vice president. “One of the reasons why he’s been so effective in dealing with the [European Union] and NATO … is because he travels a lot.”
Polls have shown about three quarters of Americans believe Biden is too old to serve another four-year term. He can help dispel that by getting out of the White House, Doherty said.
But there are risks to travel. The Trump campaign has repeatedly mocked Biden in ads with a clip of him tripping multiple times on his way up the stairs to Air Force One in 2021. NPR reported this summer that Biden had started using a shorter set of stairs on Air Force One more frequently after he tripped over a sandbag and fell during an appearance at the Air Force Academy in Colorado in June.
“The opposing party is always ready to pounce on any potential physical or rhetorical stumble, but they will also criticize the president if he stays at the White House, so the president’s team likely concludes that hoped-for benefits of travel outweigh the potential risks,” Doherty said.
Despite last month’s Boston trip, Biden took fewer trips last year that involved a campaigning or fund-raising event than Trump. Biden had 22 such trips, nearly identical to Obama’s 21 but much less than Trump’s 40, many of which involved campaign rallies. A Trump spokesman did not respond to emails requesting comment.
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Typical of his predecessors, Biden focused his travel on states that he won in the 2020 election: 19 of the 29 he visited. He made 10 trips to the battleground state of Pennsylvania, where he was born. That was more than any other outside the Washington metro area except for his current home state of Delaware, which he visited 28 times.
Trump traveled to 18 states he won in 2016 out of the 30 he visited in his third year in office. Texas, which he easily won, was his most frequent stop (eight trips) outside the DC region aside from Florida, where he has a home. Obama went to 24 states he won in 2008 out of his total of 31 visited, with deep blue New York (10 visits) topping his list outside the Washington area.
Doherty expects Biden’s travel to accelerate this year. He found that presidents dating back to Jimmy Carter travel most in their fourth year in office as they campaign for reelection. So far this year, Biden has traveled to nine different states, including Pennsylvania and South Carolina twice, topping the five states he visited in January 2023.
“Presidents tend to be quite confident in their ability to communicate, and believe that they can build support if the public understands the president’s many efforts on their behalf,” he said. “And travel is one key way that they try to do that.”
Jim Puzzanghera can be reached at jim.puzzanghera@globe.com. Follow him @JimPuzzanghera.