Donald Trump has shared a mocked-up image of Joe Biden which depicts the 77-year-old Democratic candidate as a nursing home resident, an effort which comes as national polls show the president hemorrhaging support among older voters.

Trump tweeted the image on Wednesday night, which super-imposes Biden's face onto an image of what appears to be several nursing home residents gathered in wheelchairs. Underneath, the letter "p" is crossed from the word "president" so that a caption reads: "Biden for resident."

The image jars with Trump's recent efforts to reconnect with older voters, who polls show are switching support from Trump to Biden in significant numbers.

The president last week tweeted a video where he called seniors his "favorite people in the world" and spoke of himself as one. Recent surveys have shown that Biden's growing lead in the presidential race has been fueled by sharp shifts in support among seniors away from Trump.

An NBC / Wall Street Journal poll showed Biden leading Trump by 27 points among over-65s, representing a 23-point swing towards Biden in the space of a month. The former vice-president now leads Trump among seniors by 62% to 35%, according to the poll. NBC Exit polls in 2016 showed that Trump won the usually Republican-leaning group by 8 points to secure the presidency.

Even in the key battleground state of Florida, where Trump beat Hillary Clinton by 17 points among senior voters in 2016, polling indicates that the two candidates are neck-and-neck. An AARP Florida poll published in September, before disapproval over Trump's handling of the coronavirus reached record levels, found support for Biden was 49%, compared to support for Trump on 48%.

The shift comes amid growing disapproval towards Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which has claimed over 215,000 lives in the United States, according to John Hopkins University. The president's handling of the coronavirus reached record-low approval levels following his discharge from hospital after contracting the virus, a Reuters / Ipsos poll shows.

The poll found that 59% of American adults disapprove of Trump's handling of the pandemic while 37% approve. The approval rating is the lowest since the poll began in March.

A New York Times / Siena poll of Pennsylvania, cited by NBC, found Biden leading Trump by 11 points among seniors, and 7 points overall. A WDIV / Detroit News poll of Michigan found Biden led by 8.8 points, driven by a 32-point swing since early September, according to NBC.