Who Has Spent More Time Away From The White House: Donald Trump Or Joe Biden?
Much is always made of how many days away from the White House a president spends. From George W. Bush to Barack Obama and Donald Trump, the media tends to balk when a commander in chief is not in Washington. That said, does a president ever really go on vacation? Probably not. Still, when a president steps out of the Oval Office for so-called time away, he has been scrutinized.
Obama spent 138 days away from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue as of 2014, according to PBS. That may sound like a lot, but in reality, his predecessors including Ronald Reagen, Bill Clinton and Bush all vacationed far more than #44 did.
As for Trump, of course his days away were often criticized, with The Washington Post publishing a story in 2019 that claimed a third of the days since he'd been elected were enjoyed at a Trump-branded property. Getting down to the nitty gritty, the New York Post reported that the controversial GOP leader rested his head at either Mar-a-Lago or at his Bedminster, New Jersey golf retreat 132 times during his time in office.
As for President Joe Biden, well, the amount of days the Democrat has been in Delaware and not D.C. may raise some folks' eyebrows.
Joe Biden has governed from Delaware as much as he can
Joe Biden has been the commander in chief for 21 months, and to date, has traveled to his home state of Delaware 55 times, according to CNN. The outlet reports that the 79-year-old's tally of days he's spent away from Washington comes to 174 so far. Biden reportedly loves spending time in Delaware, incidentally, and is used to spending most of his weekends at his Rehoboth Beach home — where he is currently building a pricey privacy wall, it should be noted.
Ultimately, a quarter of Biden's term has been spent in Delaware. It also means that the leader has "vacationed" far more than Donald Trump. In fact, if he continues at the same rate, Biden will have spent more time away from the White House than any other commander in chief, according to the Daily Mail, which reports in two terms, the total number of vacation days he would accrue would total over 1,000.
We don't know if Biden will run again at this point. We also don't know how many more vacation days the Delaware native will enjoy.
But here's an interesting tidbit to consider: The president who took the least number of days away from D.C. was Jimmy Carter, who was seen away from the Oval on just 79 days during his four-year term (via AL.com).