Argus Poll: Should Politicians Have Age Limits?
Senator Mitch McConnell, who is 81, twice froze up mid-sentence during press conferences this year.
By THE ARGUS STAFF
Several of our most powerful political leaders, including Nancy Pelosi, Mitch McConnell, and Joe Biden are over 80 and have looked at times frail and mentally compromised. According to national polls, even the majority of Democrats worry about President Biden’s age. Leading Republican candidate Donald Trump will also be 78 next year. Senator Dianne Feinstein, who was noticeably cognitively impaired, died in office this September at age 90. Nevertheless, voters have willingly elected these leaders.
Between September 29-October 16, the Argus asked 301 Midwood students whether they thought we should have age maximums for politicians. We also asked them if they thought Joe Biden should run for reelection in 2024. (President Biden is currently 80 years old. If reelected, he would be 86 at the end of his second term.) Here’s what our students said:
RESULTS:
85% of students thought there should be a maximum age, meaning that a person could not run for election if they were older than this age.
40% of respondents thought politicians over age 65 were too old to run for office.
65% would set the max at age 70 or earlier.
76% would set the max at age 75 or earlier.
88% would set the max at age 80 or earlier.
88% of students thought that Joe Biden should not run for reelection in 2024; they thought someone else should run instead.
COMMENTS:
Age can be a positive, establishing an individual as a wise and experienced person who could guide our nation with insight collected from past experiences. However, age also has the ability to hinder performance.
Although experience does come with age, bias also becomes heavily intertwined with one’s state of mind and thinking as age increases. So we should limit the age of politicians simply due to the fact that modern problems require modern minds and solutions.
It depends solely on the person – both their physical and mental health.
Honestly, I feel individuals over the age of 75 should not be able to run simply because the decisions they make will affect younger generations. For example, it’s probable that within the next ten years they won’t be alive, so why would they care about the longevity of the earth? Many don’t, and this is why our earth is suffering from climate change, which is continuing to get worse every day.
I believe that at a certain age, the human brain starts to slow down and process information differently. It’s important that those in our government are still capable of grasping the complicated matters that come their way.
There should be an age limit because the older you get, the more health risks you face, which means you have to focus on yourself instead of the country.
I think an exception can be made for older people if the candidate is persistent and passes numerous mental checks regularly.
Term and age limits of any kind go against the principles of democracy. However, that being said, Joe Biden should not run for reelection in 2024.
It's a super complicated question. I said yes to the age limit not because of dying in office but because I think that once people reach a certain age they lose some of the empathy that younger politicians have, and with the state of the country, we need all of the humanity and empathy we can get.
It is always good to have different age groups and different points of view. You can always learn something from someone at any age and have better insight into problems and solutions.