In the United States, the past three presidents sworn into office have a combined age of 226. There’s a minimum age requirement to serve as US president (35 years old), but no maximum age requirement. On the always conversational r/AskReddit, Reddit user u/CountyOpposite7622 asked fellow Americans: Would limiting the age of the President to 65 be something you’d support? Why or why not? Here are some of the answers about a topic that is more split than you’d think:
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1.“Yes, if there is a young age limit, then an older one is justified as well.”
“Obama was the only president we’ve had this wave who was born after the 1940s.”
2.“I’d support age limits for all politicians. Asking someone to live a while in the world they create is a fair ask, in my opinion.”
3.“Politicians collecting social security have no business in Congress, the White House, etc.”
4.“Why are we letting folks who can die from a strong breeze knocking them over run the country?”
5.“I think Americans need to ask themselves: Why are American politicians generally so old? Most of the world doesn’t have maximum age limits either, yet older people in politics are much rarer elsewhere. Why?”
“Money = Power.”
6.“Mitch McConnell has been a Kentucky senator since 1985; he’s had power longer than I’ve been alive.”
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7.“Add in 20-year limits on Supreme Court and Federal judge appointments. Lifetime appointments are ridiculous. As far as an age limit on legislators, I agree for the most part, but Sanders makes me question it. He seems to grasp the moment better than many Democrats in Congress who are 30 years his junior.”
8.“There is a minimum, so a maximum makes sense. 35-70 seems reasonable. A 70-year-old running for election would finish the term at 74, maybe 75, depending on the time of their birthday, of course. Just for discussion’s sake.”
9.“Considering Congress limits my profession to age 65, I’d love for that to be an age cap for ALL federal elected officials as well.”
10.“Without some sort of test for competency, it doesn’t matter where you set the age limit.”
“The problem with that is that there is no way we could get everyone to agree on the definition of competent in this context.”
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11.“Actual fossils running our government.”
12.“We’ve been stuck in a generational loop with presidents.”
13.“The US Constitution technically has a provision to remove a mentally incompetent president from office. It’s just never been used before for a whole host of reasons. An age limit would at least help.”
14.“There is a minimum because the founders wanted life experience to be a factor. There’s enough time for somebody to learn and understand how things work when it comes to people and management. I’m OK with the way things are. I like freedom, but I also appreciate having some structure within it. Let’s say we eliminate the 35-year-old minimum, which would now allow a 10-year-old to be elected to the presidency. Probably not a smart move, but hopefully society isn’t that silly.”
15.“I know plenty of 70-year-olds that I think would be perfectly competent to be president, and plenty of 40-year-olds I wouldn’t trust to watch paint dry.”
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16.“Maybe tie it in with a driver’s test. If they can’t be mentally or physically competent enough to make decisions while in a car, I don’t want them behind the wheel of a country either.”
17.“I think 75 by election day is fair. I work in healthcare, and people over 65 should have an opportunity to be represented because they have a drastically different set of needs than people who are 55. “
“F*** that. They’ve already been overrepresented in Congress for decades now. I’m done tolerating being ruled by ancient, technologically illiterate ghouls.”
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18.“I would probably say 65 when their term starts or 70 when it ends. Doing the job right is extremely stressful, and very few older folks can sustain that. I would also put caps on Congress: 75 years old at the end of their term.”
19.“100%. We need presidents who still have enough life left to actually face the consequences of their choices in office. That way they’ll have incentive to do good.”
20.“Nope. The world does not need more techbro billionaires in politics. CEOs in general make awful politicians.”
21.“Use cognitive tests for metrics that matter. Do not use age solely because it’s correlated with older age. Person A can be sharp as a tack at 85, person B can develop early-onset dementia at 63.”
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22.“The House, Senate, Supreme Court, and president should all top out at 50, not because of any issues of mental competency. It’s because you should be forced to live in the world you built after you leave office. So many octogenarian freaks are fine with passing sociopathic legislation because they’re expecting to croak in the next three or four years. If it’s guaranteed that you actually have to suffer the fallout of your actions for 20 or 30 years, then you might be more likely to pass legislation that won’t kill all of us in 10.”
“The flaw here is that ex-presidents/senators/etc. make a fuck-ton of money after they leave office, so they’ll never have to deal with things that we peons have to deal with.”
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23.“No, because not all old people are senile.”
24.“Yes, and I would also pay a ham sandwich or five to see a Constitutional amendment limiting all federally elected officials to either two consecutive 4-year terms or a single 6-year term to ensure they aren’t constantly campaigning.”
25.“I find it shocking how many people in the US government are over 70, at least at the higher level. I actually supported Biden for his polices, but not as a person because of his age. He was in his late 70s to mid-80s. WTF is he doing, trying to run for president again? Yeah, for sure, an age limit. I’d rather have someone who’s mentally and physically alert and active enough to do the job. 65 is the retirement age, which should be the cutoff. Or like 67 or 68. Though older people can be mentally alert and aware, it’s clear at that age that it goes down.”
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26.“Absolutely. There is no reason we retire pilots flying commercially, and even in the military. The president is the Commander-in-Chief. 65 years old tops.”
27.“I’m not really in favor of limits like this, but also, it takes an unhinged person to, at 65, say ‘I’d like to run for office,’ let alone for POTUS.”
28.“No. Different people age at different rates, so it doesn’t make sense to disallow someone in their mid-60s who is still sharp from being president. Also, we the people are responsible for voting for decent candidates. It’s our fault that so many of us are dumbass Trump supporters.”
29.“You can’t be the president if you’re under 35. Nobody seems to have a problem with that. I sure don’t. A 30-year window of eligibility makes pretty good sense to me. The person leading this country should be in their prime, and not someone whose mental faculties are potentially compromised by their advanced age.”
What do you think of a presidential age limit of 65? Comment below.
Note: Responses have been edited for length/clarity.
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