Nikki Haley Mocks Donald Trump, Joe Biden With Competency Test at Rally

Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley took aim at President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump on Saturday when her team handed out a mental competency test to people who attended her rally in South Carolina.

The former United Nations ambassador is trailing Trump in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. However, she has repeatedly questioned Trump's mental competency on the campaign trail and argued that Trump and Biden are too old to serve second terms as president. In addition, after her loss in the New Hampshire primary, Haley, 52, challenged Trump to face her directly, saying: "He thinks he'd do better [on a mental test] than me. Maybe he would, maybe he wouldn't. But if he thinks that, then he should have no problem standing on a debate stage with me."

She has continued those attacks since turning her attention to her home state of South Carolina's primary as its Republican primary will take place on February 24. Haley, who was a former governor of the state, is expected to make three stops in South Carolina as part of her campaign bus tour this weekend.

During her first stop at a rally in Newberry, South Carolina, CBS News political campaign reporter Nidia Cavazos wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that Haley's team handed out a mental competency test aimed at whether Biden or Trump can pass it.

The competency test asks, "Can you pass a mental competency test? Can Joe Biden? Can Donald Trump?" Meanwhile, questions on the test vary as they aim to test one's language, memory, attention and naming skills. One of the questions cover "delayed recall" as it states, "I read some words to you earlier. Tell me as many of those words you can remember."

Newsweek has reached out to Haley, Trump and Biden's campaign via email for comment.

This is not the first time Haley has called for a mental competency test among Trump and Biden as she previously, shortly after announcing her bid for president, pushed for all political candidates age 75 years and older to undergo "mental competency tests" prior to running for office.

Meanwhile, questions related to the age and mental fitness of both Trump, 77, and Biden, 81, have been consistent talking points during the primary season. Additionally, age has also been a concern among voters in a hypothetical rematch between Biden and Trump.

In a previous Newsweek poll conducted last year, a majority of voters across all generations believe that aging politicians should be tested for mental fitness, with support for the measure being slightly stronger among Americans aged between 57 and 75—the so-called baby boomers.

The poll was conducted by Redfield & Wilton Strategies on behalf of Newsweek among a sample population of 1,500 eligible voters in the country. It found that 75 percent of all Americans agree that politicians of a certain age should be required to take competency tests to prove their mental fitness for office, with support rising with age.

This comes as Trump, while on the campaign trail, has made a series of gaffes and came under more criticism after he shared on Truth Social in November a medical report saying that he is in excellent health and his cognitive health was exceptional.

However, this also comes as Biden has also had a history of verbal missteps that have come under heightened scrutiny as he campaigns for reelection.

Trump, meanwhile, has seized on Biden's slip-ups, saying his mental abilities is a major issue in his ability to govern.

"We have a guy in the White House who can't put two sentences together and who could not find his way off this stage," the former president said in New Hampshire in November.