ANALYSIS | Something Americans agree on? Our politicians are too old

(CNN) — The president of the United States is 79 years old. The Speaker of the House of Representatives is 82 years old. The Senate Majority Leader is 71 years old. The median age of a US senator as of early 2021 was 64.3 years old, the oldest in US history. While the American public doesn’t agree on much, it does agree on this: Our politicians are simply too old. A new CBS News poll shows nearly three in four Americans (73%) think there should be some sort of upper age limit for elected officials. Support for such an age limit is consistent across party lines. Seven in ten Democrats (71%) agree, as do three-quarters of Republicans and independents. Support is also remarkably consistent across age groups. Interestingly, the youngest group in the survey (18-29 year olds) are least in favor of upper age limits (68%), while three-quarters of all other age groups support them. What should be the age limit to hold a position? The most common answer among the options presented in the CBS poll was 70 years old, with 4 out of 10 Americans choosing that option. One in 4 (26%) said 60 should be the maximum age someone can be for elected office, while 18% said 80 should be the cutoff. This is not, of course, a utopian discussion. President Joe Biden, as I noted earlier, is 79 years old. He will turn 82 shortly after the 2024 election. He is already the oldest person elected to a first term as president. That has led to skepticism, even from members of his own party, that he should seek a second term. “My hunch is that we need new leadership across the board — Democrats, Republicans, I think it’s time for a generational change,” Ohio Democratic Senate candidate Tim Ryan said recently when asked if Biden should run for the reelection. A slew of polls over the summer showed large sections of the country also raising doubts about whether Biden would run for another term, with some respondents citing his age. “The presidency is too tough, physically, for anyone who is there,” Jean Davis, an 87-year-old Iowan, told the Des Moines Register in July about Biden. “He may have it mentally. But physically, I don’t think he’s capable of it.” “I’m going to come out and say it: I want younger blood,” Nicole Farrier, a 38-year-old Michigan resident, told the New York Times in July. “I am so tired of all the elders running our country. I don’t want someone knocking on death’s door.” As the Times put it in a separate story: “Mr. Biden looks older than he did a few years ago, a political liability that cannot be resolved with traditional White House ploys like personnel changes or new communication plans. His energy level, while impressive for a man his age, is not what he was, and some aides watch over him in silence. He often drags his feet when he walks, and attendees worry that he will trip over a wire. He stumbles over words during public events, and they hold their breath to see if he gets through without a mistake.” Former President Donald Trump tried to make Biden’s age and mental acuity an issue during the 2020 campaign, and has continued to do so since losing that race.”This guy has no idea,” Trump said before his first debate of 2020. “He doesn’t know where the hell he is. This guy doesn’t know he’s alive.” Trump, it’s worth noting, is no spring chicken at 76 as he contemplates another possible run for the White House. Biden has responded forcefully to such attacks. “Look at me, Mr. president. Look at me,” Biden said in August 2020. “Look at both of us. Look at both of us, what we say, what we do, what we control, what we know, what kind of shape we’re in. Let’s go.” For what it’s worth, after Biden’s annual physical last fall, his doctor said the president “remains fit for the job and executes all of his responsibilities without waivers or accommodations.” Even below the presidential level , the question of age has come to the fore in recent months.Last spring, the San Francisco Chronicle published a lengthy article detailing the alleged mental decline of California Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, 89. The article included these lines: “Four United States Senators, including three Democrats, as well as three former Feinstein staffers and the Democratic member of Congress from California told The Chronicle in recent interviews that his memory is rapidly deteriorating. They said it appears she can no longer fulfill her job duties without her staff doing much of the work required to represent California’s nearly 40 million people.” Feinstein later told the Chronicle’s editorial board that she was “baffled.” by the reports, noting, “I meet regularly with the leaders. I am not isolated. I see people. My attendance is good. I work the hours.” (The flip side: Feinstein had previously resigned her seat as the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2020 following liberal criticism of her handling of Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court nomination hearings.) Feinstein’s current term ends in 2025. The issue of age — whether at the presidential, Senate, or House level — is a sensitive one to report on or even talk about. Age is undefeated, and everyone knows that at some point they could be the ones being quietly removed from the public stage.At the same time, as these CBS poll numbers make clear, the public is fed up with so many old politicians and is more than ready for a change.