Joe Biden and the Age Question: You might remember a bumper sticker that made the rounds during the 2016 election. It read “Giant Meteor 2016” in reference to Americans’ widely held dissatisfaction with the available candidates.

I saw a t-shirt back in  2023that reminded me of the meteor bumper sticker. But the 2024 critique was much more specific. It said: “Anyone Under 80.” 

Americans Believe Joe Biden Is Too Old

“Americans actually agree on something in this time of raw discord,” the AP reported back last summer. “Joe Biden is too old to be an effective president in a second term.”

Well, I should hope so. Biden is over 80 years old.

And more important, Biden looks and sounds his age. A summer 2023 poll shows that most Americans have noticed their commander in chief’s frailty.

In the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll, “77% said Biden is too old to be effective for four more years.”

And here’s the most significant finding: “Not only do 89% of Republicans say that, so do 69% of Democrats. That view is held across age groups, not just by young people.”

Independent voters, whose support is so highly coveted in today’s partisan climate, also believe Biden is too old. Seventy-four percent of independents are skeptical that Biden has another four years in him.

And to be frank, that polling has not changed months later. 

It’s Not Just About Joe Biden

Americans are becoming increasingly frustrated with how old their public servants are — not just the president, but members of Congress and justices of the Supreme Court.

It’s about Senator Mitch McConnell, up at the podium, seeming to forget all semblance of time and space. It was about Dianne Feinstein, not knowing who she was. Or Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, stubbornly clinging to her seat even as her health deteriorated. 

“Democrats, Republicans and independents want to sweep a broad broom through the halls of power, imposing age limits on the presidency, Congress and the Supreme Court. In all, about two-thirds of U.S. adults back an age ceiling on candidates for president and Congress and a mandatory retirement age for justices,” the AP reported.

“Specifically, 67% favor requiring Supreme Court justices to retire by a certain age, 68% support age ceilings for candidates for House and Senate, and 66% support age ceilings for candidates for president.”

The support for age caps should increase if Biden is elected to a second term. Biden is already the oldest president ever. If he were re-elected, a second term would take him through his 86th birthday. But the life expectancy of a U.S. male is only 76 years.

So, Joe Biden would need to exceed his life expectancy by a full decade just to make it through a second term. It’s statistically unlikely, meaning American voters are likely being presented with a false option for their Democratic nominee. 

“Just watching and listening to Biden, it’s pretty self-evident he is not what he was,” said Greg Pack, a registered nurse. Agreed. Now, imagine what Biden will look and sound like in another three or four years. Probably not someone who should be running the country.

Oh, and for what it’s worth: Donald Trump is just a few years behind Biden; a second term would bring Trump past his 80th birthday, too.

About the Author: Harrison Kass 

Harrison Kass is the Senior Writer for the National Interest. An attorney, pilot, guitarist, and minor pro hockey player, Harrison joined the US Air Force as a Pilot Trainee but was medically discharged. Harrison holds a BA from Lake Forest College, a JD from the University of Oregon, and an MA from New York University. Harrison listens to Dokken.