A recent poll from YouGov/CBS News showed that 77% of respondents said that there should be a maximum age limit for elected officials, with the most popular cutoff being 70 years old. The idea of an age limit for the presidency or Congress isn’t entirely new; Jimmy Carter even endorsed the concept in 2020. But the prospect of a mandatory political retirement age seems newly relevant with protests over our “gerontocracy” filling news outlets seemingly daily.
These pieces inevitably focus on President Joe Biden (80), former President and current candidate Donald Trump (77), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (81), and, until her recent death at the age of 90, Sen. Dianne Feinstein. In San Francisco, where I live and where the gratitude for Feinstein’s service runs deep, the remembrances of her have thankfully focused on honoring her greatness and her actions. The news has finally shifted from any mention of her public decline as a reason for championing age limits.
As a geriatrician, I think that the idea of maximum age for politicians is terrible. It won’t help America — and it might hurt us.
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