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Donald Trump turns 78 on Friday, a milestone that will remind voters that the two major-party candidates running for U.S. president this year are the oldest ever to seek the office, Reuters reports.

Age and mental sharpness have been at the center of the contest between the Republican Trump and his Democratic rival, President Joe Biden, often getting more attention than substantive policy issues in the run-up to the Nov. 5 election.

Public opinion polls show Americans are more worried about the advanced age of Biden, who is 81. But at 78, Trump is just three and a half years younger, and he would be the oldest person ever to be inaugurated if he wins a second term.

Trump is scheduled to speak on Friday at a birthday party organized for him in West Palm Beach, Florida, by a group of die-hard supporters.

On the campaign trail, Trump has not explicitly made an issue of Biden's age, but has sought to capitalize on his opponent's every verbal mistake, as well as Biden's slowing gait, to cast him as unfit for the Oval Office.

Biden has responded to questions about his age by telling voters to focus on his accomplishments in office as evidence of his acuity and strength. He has also described Trump as a threat to democracy and criticized his sometimes rambling speeches, as well as Trump's use of inflammatory rhetoric against immigrants.

Still, even some Democrats have expressed concerns about Biden's ability to complete another term, which would take him to age 86.

In a Reuters/Ipsos poll in February, some 78% of respondents - including 71% of Democrats - said Biden, already the oldest president, was too old to work in government. Some 53% of respondents said Trump, who was president from 2017-2021, was too old for government work.