By Yashwant Raj

Washington, Apr 10 (IANS): US President Joe Biden has once agains teased a run for a second term but stopped short of announcing it.

"I plan on running," Biden told an NBC news interview Monday, adding, "but we're not prepared to announce it yet."

Biden has said before that he intends to seek a second term but he would announce it only after consulting his family.

First Lady Jill Biden told CNN in February, "I'm all for it, of course."

Though an official announcement has not been made yet, there are every indication that the US President will run for a second term, defying questions about his age, including by members of his own party.

Biden is 80 and is already the oldest president in US history, at the age of 78. If he wins, he will be 82 when he starts the second term in 2025.

Former President Donald Trump, the leading Republican challenger to Biden as of now is 76 and will be 78, if he wins and secures a second term. He lost his re-election in in 2020 to Biden and is running a third time, dogged by mounting legal troubles.

President Biden is currently at 42.6 per cent approval rating in FiveThirtyEight's aggregate of polls, with 52.6 per cent disapproval rating. While the economy has recovered from the crippling effects of the Covid-9 epidemic and unemployment is low, inflations remains high and because of rising interest rates - raised by the Federal Reserve for curb prices - fears of recession are in the air, bolstered by the collapse of two regional banks in recent weeks.