We live in a time of deep political division, but there is at least one aspect of politics that both sides agree on: the maximum age for elected office. Most people believe that they should not be allowed to hold office after a certain age.
There is agreement not only on political lines, but also on demographic groups, such as age. Young people and adults, including the elderly, are in favor of raising the age limits for elected office.
And far more Americans believe that more young people in office would be a good thing for American politics than a bad thing.
So what should that age be? When given a list of ages, the best answer is 70 years. That's older than the average age of members of Congress, but one-third of current US senators are over 70.
While both young and old believe that elected officials should not be allowed to serve past a certain age, younger Americans are more likely than older Americans to set the age limit at 60.
Will politics allow more young people to choose? Many think so. We asked for a list of groups, and although no group or response received an absolute majority, the first response was to choose more young people (and then more women in power).
Few Americans believe that increasing the number of seniors in public office will improve politics. They believe a ratio of more than three to one will make policy worse, not better, even for older Americans.
This CBS News/YouGov poll was conducted on a representative sample of 2,085 American adults surveyed between August 29-31, 2022. The sample was weighted by sex, age, race, and education according to the Community Survey. According to the US Census and current surveys. . and before the 2020 presidential elections. Error ±2.6 points.
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Portraits of Obama on display at the White House
An overwhelming majority of Americans support age limits for elected officials.
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