Joe Biden broke off his introduction at a campaign event in Arizona on Tuesday as he made a bemusing beeline for a baby - whom the president joked he "couldn't resist".
Biden's campaign manager, Julie Chávez Rodríguez, had only just begun her opening remarks at the event in Phoenix when he left the stage to sit in the crowd.
The Potus approached a mother and baby in the audience - where he sat through two speeches - asking about the infant's age, pulling faces and talking playfully to the child.
When he eventually returned to the stage, Biden declared to supporters: "Well, folks, I have to tell you straight up - I like you all, but I couldn’t resist that little baby."
Biden sat in the crowd alongside the baby, whom he "couldn't resist" for the length of two speeches
Reuters
It's not the President's first run-in with a baby at an event - last year, while on an international visit to Finland, he nibbled on a young girl's shoulder as he spoke to crowds in Helsinki.
The 81-year-old commander-in-chief leaned in to kiss the young girl on the temple, but the infant pulled away into her mother's arms at the last minute.
The bizarre incident left Biden batting away criticism, with commentators describing the moment "creepy as f**k" and joking the president was "confusing babies with ice cream cones".
Earlier in the year, the Potus said he "like[d] babies better than people" after a child started crying during an address at the White House.
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Biden sat in the crowd at the Phoenix event, where Democrats rallied to win over Hispanic voters ahead of this year's election
Reuters
The campaign event earlier this week - at a Mexican restaurant in Arizona's capital Phoenix - kicked off efforts by the Biden team to woo Hispanic and Latin voters.
The President is lagging behind in polls among the demographic; according to an NBC survey, Latin voters held Biden at a measly 35 per cent approval rating - two percentage points lower than the national average.
More polling from earlier this year put Trump in the lead against Biden among the group - one survey by USA Today and Suffolk University in Boston had the ex-president enjoying a five per cent lead over the man he calls "sleepy Joe".
And Biden took aim at his electoral rival at the Phoenix event, saying Trump "only cares about the wealthy".
After speeches had concluded, Arizona Democratic Party chair Yolanda Bejarano admitted Donald Trump's entertaining personality could swing Hispanic voters in 2024.
Bejarano told reporters: "People like to be entertained - and sometimes Donald Trump, what he does, it provides that entertainment.
"People like laugh at his rallies, you know, it’s like they’re going to a circus... They’re listening to him just joke about things - very, very serious things - and we just need to be very focused and make sure that Latinos understand exactly who Donald Trump is and what a danger he presents to us."
Biden defeated Trump in Arizona four years ago - but, according to a RealClearPolitics polling average, Trump leads the current President by 5.2 percentage points.
