Do Republicans realize Trump is the old guy if Biden drops out? Haley would fix that.

In light of Joe Biden’s disastrous debate night, polls have indicated that Donald Trump is pulling away from the current president.

The past week has made clear what conservatives have been dwelling on for years, and was widely dismissed as partisan overreaction, is now clear to a large part of America: Biden is not mentally fit to be president.

Democrats are now in disarray, debating whether or not to drop the sitting president from their own party’s ticket. I’d honestly admire the Democrats’ decision to even consider dropping Biden had they not covered up the mental state of the sitting president for four years, only changing course once the truth finally slipped out to the American public.

It appears that Trump is on his way to being handed back the presidency on a silver platter. Whether Democrats allow Biden to remain the nominee or are forced to admit they rallied behind an unfit party leader for the past four years, Trump somehow holds the amazing virtue of stability.

Nikki Haley is still the best option for Republicans, and Biden's current state only makes that clearer

So, just imagine how well Nikki Haley (or any other Republican with moderate appeal) would be doing.

Polling from the peak of the GOP primary showed Haley performing better than Trump in a head-to-head with Biden long before the entire Democratic machine turned on the president. The more Democrats cannibalize themselves over this debate, the more the GOP looks orderly by comparison, even though that is certainly not the case.

Any reasonable GOP candidate would have already been leading Biden and, at this point, would be planning on how to decorate the White House.

Repubilcans need a different Trump: Republicans deserve the version of Trump we saw during the debate. Too bad it won't last.

However, given that the alternative is still Trump, there remains some doubt, and his presence on the ballot is likely to hobble GOP efforts up and down the ticket, as his crop of endorsements did in the 2022 midterm elections.

Biden’s mental competency stands out in contrast to Trump's, making even the former president seem presidential during their side-by-side debate. Imagine the stark contrast between Biden and a younger, more disciplined GOP candidate.

A candidate like Haley, who enjoyed strong cross-party appeal throughout the primary, would have had the added benefit of capturing the turncoat Democrats most put off by the tragic Biden debate performance. While some Republicans say they don’t want those votes, a captured Democratic vote counts just as much as that of a die-hard Trump supporter.

Now, Trump will likely be the old guy

The leading choice to replace Biden is Vice President Kamala Harris, 59, who is nearly 20 years younger than Trump, 78.

The other popular options are all even younger: California Gov. Gavin Newsom, 56, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, 52, and U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, 42.

If the Democrats decide to drop Biden, Trump becomes the old guy in the race who can't hide behind "Sleepy Joe." While Biden's age problems are far more apparent than Trump's, voters are right to be concerned about Trump entering his 80s, especially when he doesn't appear to be in the best physical shape.

Nearly 60% of all Americans say both Trump and Biden are too old to serve a second term, and nearly half of registered voters under the age of 30 are concerned that old candidates like these two lack the ability to understand issues facing younger people.

Sotomayor dissents in immunity case: I need the liberal Supreme Court justices to stop overreacting

An overlooked advantage that Democrats might retake is the debate of age, and it could have been avoided had Republicans simply chosen a candidate not entering his 80s.

If Democrats decided to drop Biden, they'd be wise to lean into the age angle given the opposition, no matter who their choice is among the leading options.

Republicans may win back the White House, but they'll do it by accident

If you’re interested in handily winning elections, you need to appeal to moderates. This is the group most likely to have had the presidential debate impact their choice and the group that Trump has had the most difficulty convincing of a second term.

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If Republicans manage to win this election, which at this moment it seems like they will, they owe it to the Democrats, not themselves. The GOP chose wrong every step of the way leading up to this election, culminating in the least popular election in recent memory.

Thankfully for them, their opponents did the exact same thing, pretending that everything was fine until the truth was impossible to deny. Now, as the Democrats scramble to decide who is even going to face Trump, Republicans must get to work pressing the slim advantage they now hold thanks to a series of bad decisions.

Dace Potas is an opinion columnist for USA TODAY and a graduate of DePaul University with a degree in political science.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: If Biden drops out, Trump becomes the old guy. GOP needs Nikki Haley