A new study of former President Joe Biden‘s schedule has revealed he seemingly took 577 vacation days during his four years in office, which would break the record for the most time off by a commander-in-chief.
The Republican National Committee published a report detailing that Biden spent 40 percent of his presidency on vacation, breaking the record previously held by George W. Bush, who spent nearly 37 percent of his tenure taking days off.
The report also included statistics on former presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, and Jimmy Carter.
Carter was revealed to have taken the least time off, only spending 5.4 percent of his days on vacation. Obama spent 11.2 percent of his tenure taking time off, while Clinton totaled 11.8 percent.
Trump’s first term totaled 26%, H.W. Bush took 34.9 percent of his days as president off, while Reagan was only on vacation about 11.5 percent of the time.
The RNC initially posted the data at the start of 2024, but details obtained by the New York Post found that Biden took 43 of the 70 days between his decision to suspend his re-election campaign and the end of his first term off.
The data supports claims from Biden’s critics that his age was impairing his ability to lead.
Concerns about the former president’s mental fitness eventually resulted in his withdrawal from the 2024 election.
Joe Biden was pictured with his wife, Jill, lounging at Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, where he has a vacation home in August, 2024
Biden waved to the cameras while out on a leisurely bike ride with Secret Service near his home in Delaware
Biden and his wife were caught sun bathing during a summer trip to his home in Delaware
Republicans have often referred to Biden as ‘sleepy Joe,’ and his critics have levied insults at the former president for being old and lazy.
Despite Biden’s own admissions during his campaign that he needed to stop over-scheduling himself, there is some doubt about the statistics the RNC shared.
An investigation by Snopes shared that the RNC’s data counted ‘partial days’ off as full vacation days, and included locations that Biden was working from.
The publication cited September 3, 2021, as a mistaken vacation day. The RNC claimed he was on vacation, however, his public calendar stated that he was in Louisiana to address hurricane relief efforts.
The publication argued that Biden only spent about 117 days on vacation, which would account for 8 percent of his presidency.
Snopes also found that Biden spent 109 days at Camp David or his personal residence in Delaware, locations that he often worked from.
Studies have shown that most presidents take more vacation days than average Americans
Presidents are frequently pictured enjoying rounds of golf on their days off
CNN reported in 2022 that Biden spent over 25 percent of his presidency working from his home in Delaware.
Biden made an estimated 55 trips to his home state during the first 21 months into his term, according to a tally of unofficial White House press corps. statistician Mark Knoller.
‘Presidents of the United States are constantly on the job, regardless of their location – whether they’re on a state visit overseas or just 100 miles from the White House for a short trip to Wilmington, DE,’ former White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said at the time.
‘And as all Americans can agree, it’s important for leaders to avoid becoming ensconced in Washington, DC.’
The Washington Post argued in 2022 that Biden’s trips were typically to Wilmington and his house in Rehoboth Beach, which cost the Secret Service less money than transporting Trump to his residences in Mar-a-Lago and Bedminster, New Jersey.
Despite the discrepancies in Biden’s time off, a study conducted by Roll Call last summer revealed that both Biden and Trump had among the lowest office hours of any modern president.
Roll Call considered office hours as the time between the president’s average first and last scheduled appointments during the workday.
Biden was slammed by opponents for taking too many days off to go to Delaware while he was president
Trump was found to only have an average of 6.03 office hours during his first term, while Truman had 6.72, and Biden had 6.8.
Obama came in fourth to last with an average of 7.2 office hours, while George H.W. Bush had a whopping average of 14.9-hour days.
The study only counted the amount of time presidents conducted meetings in an official capacity, not necessarily how often they worked on their own.
Even though studies differ on exactly how many days off Biden took throughout his presidency, it seems like he did put in fewer working hours than other presidents.
