Poll: Majority of Americans Support Maximum Age Limits for Elected Officials Poll. (Dreamstime)
By Solange Reyner | Thursday, 08 September 2022 11:43 AM EDT
Seventy-three percent of U.S. voters say there should be maximum age limits for elected officials, according to a CBS News/YouGov poll released Thursday.
And 40% say the maximum age limit for elected officials should be 70, compared with 18% who say 80 and 26% who say 60.
Additionally, just 12% think having more older people in elected office would make politics better, compared with 47% who say young people, women (45%), racial minorities (41%) and LGBTQ people (32%).
The poll, conducted Aug. 29-31, also found:
- 47% of U.S. voters say having young people in elected office would make politics better, while 42% say having older people in elected office would make politics worse.
- Voters across the board favor maximum age limits for elected officials: 71% of Democrats, 75% of independents and 75% of Republicans and 74% of voters ages 65 and over, 75% of voters ages 45-64 and voters ages 30-44 and 68% of voters ages 18-29.
An analysis from the Congressional Research Service on the current members of Congress published in January found that the current group is the oldest on average of any Congress in at least the past 20 years.
A January YouGov survey noted that the average age of U.S. senators is 64, while 58 is the average of U.S. House members. President Joe Biden became the oldest president in U.S. history when he defeated Donald Trump in 2020.
The CBS News/YouGov poll published Thursday surveyed 2,085 U.S. adults. The margin of error is +/-2.6 percentage points.