Aging Politicians Are Only Going To Get More Common

Presidents get older and older. Former President Donald Trump was the oldest person who took the position when he was a swearing on January 20, 2017, and President Biden beat this record four years later. If someone is elected again next year, at the age of 78 and 81, respectively, they will be older than the previous record holder, Ronald Reagan when he was left Office aged 77 years.

The possibility of octagonal on the presidential ticket is bothering many Americans – perhaps because it is not only the presidency that is aging. The current congress, with an average age of 65 years in the Senate and 58 in the ward, The oldest in historyThe field last week, when the 81 -year -old leader of the minority in the Senate Mitch MacConnell seemed to freeze, speaking a second time in two months, there were there Renewable calls to move asideand 90-year-old California Senator Diane Faynstein was under similar control After a series of health problems. Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, who has been for 51 years and has been running for the nomination of the Republicans, has Calling for competence tests For candidates over 75 years old, and her opponent Vivek with a manasy, a 38-year-old entrepreneur, said that the time has come for a new generation To rise and lead.

Voters are worried about the age of candidates and elected officials, especially when it comes to Biden. The vast majority of adult Americans, 77 percent, say that it is too old to be effective for another four years, According to the AP-Norc survey In August. Fifty -seven percent of registered voters believed that age strictly limited President Biden to do his job In a survey of an economist/yougov since AugustThe field of similar questions were asked about Feinstein and McConnell, about which 60 percent said the same thing.

But will voters begin to reject the candidates from their age? There are many reasons why elderly politicians continue to hold the levers of power – and the structure of our political system makes it difficult to let them go, even despite the concern of the Americans about the aging political leadership of the country. That is why the Americans can continue to support the elderly politicians when they are in the voting cockpit, even if they say that they prefer a younger cohort of leadership.

Americans are increasingly worried about the age of politicians

Bayden can be the oldest president in the history of the United States, but is worried about whether the presidents are too old for work for some time floating. The Americans were more and more worried about Reagan's age during his stay. At the beginning of its second term in 1985, 33 percent of respondents in the ABC/Washington Post survey said that Reagan was too old to be president, but by 1987 this number grew to 42 percent. And a survey in January 1987 from Louis Harris & Associates They found that 48 percent of the respondents agreed with the statement that Reagan was too old to be the president.

In the modern era, the presidents traditionally released details about their health, and the public required transparency, because the work is physically and mentally demanding, and voters want to ensure that the person they choose is what he does. Requirements about this have the basis in past events: President Woodlon Wilson was able to hide the effects of stroke In 1919, from the majority of the American public and his wife Edith, in fact, acted as an actual president until his second term ended in 1921. Later, in 1967, Ratification of the 25th amendments He outlined what should happen if the president died or became incompetent.

But the presidents are not always it would be in mind With information. In the absence of diagnoses, voters often rely on external signs that their candidates It may be incapable do your job. Perhaps the most obvious is the age of the candidate, simply because we are faced with great chances of serious health and death problems than we are older.

But in practice, it is difficult to draw bright lines – partly because age is far from ideal proxy for health. Some elderly politicians are perceived as more capable than others: thirty -four percent of voters thought that the age of Senator Bernie Sanders, who was almost 82 years old, greatly limited his ability to do his work in August. Survey of an economist/YugovAnd 28 percent said that age would limit Trump's ability to be president if he was elected again. These differences suggest that this is not only inceism, but also the specific conditions of the health of some politicians, which are reported in the media that voters respond to; or in the case of Biden, Report about each spotykField

Health conditions that can come with age, even chronic, which require adaptation, do not necessarily mean that elected officials also cannot effectively serve, which indicates a broader problem about how voters make assumptions about the suitability of candidates for position. For example, people with physical and mental disadvantages are unprotected in the government, and only 1 out of 10 chosen representatives have disability, while almost 16 percent of adults in the total population have one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one According to the University of RutgersPaul as Pennsylvania Saint. John Fetterman The campaign showedCandidates may encounter discrimination when disability is united with cognitive abilities. The need for housing does not mean that the elected representative cannot work. “You also do not want to lose a potential contribution to someone, who is older, but quite talented, and now has the advantage of bringing to the table,” said James M. Curry, political scientist from the University of Utah.

Some voters, however, think that we should have more clear rules about when the politician is too old to serve. Sixty -seven percent of respondents decisively or somewhat supported the age limit for the service in the Senate in YouGov/Umass Amherst OPL since Juneand 58 percent of adults thought that age -related restrictions on work as a president would be a good idea In Marista survey since November last yearThe field of sixty -eight percent of respondents preferred mental competence tests for candidates over 75 years old. In the Yougov/Yahoo survey since FebruaryA lot of 48 percent, they believe that the president’s work is too demanding for someone older than 75 years, according to CBS/YouGov survey since JuneThe field and in general, the preference of the Americans is clear to young leadership: about half of the Americans believe that the ideal age for the president is someone at the age of 50, According to the PEW research centerField

The risk that the politician will unable to do his work is not the only concern that this perception can cause. The age of voters and members of the congress that they choose Programs and problems important for senior votersFrom social security to cruelty to elderly people, more likely to attract attention than problems that are more important for young voters, such as student loans.

“I think that the biggest reason why young Americans want young lawmakers is that they feel that they are not very well represented by elderly Americans, as in the point of view of things that senior representatives can concentrate or talk about what the younger candidate can talk about,” but also because, like all Americans, they want to see what they represent in the government, Kerry said. Young Americans are now missing this performance. “This makes them less pleased with their representative government and are less pleased with their democracy,” he said.

It is also possible that, despite the fact that, despite the fact that they say, voters prefer to reinstall anyone with experience and seniority. “The Constitution establishes the minimum age for the presidency and for the US House and the US Senate, but it does not establish the maximum,” said William J. Kolya, the author of the upcoming The Big 100: The New World of Super-Again. “And you must believe that the creators clearly appreciated experience among young people. This is part of our DNA in a sense, politically. ”

But our system could ensure that elderly politicians remain in power

There are several factors contributing to our aging policy, and they are hinted at why voters choose elderly candidates, despite the fact that they prefer young people in surveys. The first is a simple demography. Senior voters are more likely to vote and more likely Choose candidates closer to your ageYoung generations of voters are not overtake Generation of the Baby -Buma until 2018. Millennials Now surpasses in the number of baby -boomers as the largest generation in AmericaBut the youngest millennials, at the age of 25, only now adults to have the right to run for a federal office. The constitution requires Candidates for the US House are at least 25 and at least 30 for the Senate, and most candidates have preliminary experience before running for these big places. They must also create a recognition of the name and the fundraising base. From this, even Gen X and Millennials Still lagging behind in the viewField

This leaves a baby -boomers excessively represented in the congress, Holding almost half of the positionsThe field is also difficult to force the older generations to let go of power if they do not want to resign. Eat Strong duties For the federal office and the current structure of the Congress consultant, which allows higher members with the concessions of the PLUM committee to attract more attention to the needs of their voters. In the last century, the average duration of service for Congress members increased Since the participants began to be more likely to search and win re -election.

Price to run for the office also increasedAnd the current politicians have A huge advantage in raising fundsA field in the USA decision on whether it is necessary to run for re -election, to a large extent left to the candidates themselves. In countries with different systems, management bodies can be more representative Because the parties can exert more pressure on candidates in order to leave and more effectively gain young members for service. It may happen that American voters do not choose young candidates, because they have no options in front of them.

Since the Americans continue to live longer and longer, it can be just the future of politics. “I think, frankly, old leaders should be self-conscious enough to find time to move aside,” Kolya said.

Mary Radcliffe introduced research.

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