There’s been some debate — though in my view, not enough — about whether Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders are simply too old to be president.
Upon taking office, Biden would be 78 and Sanders would be 79, older than Ronald Reagan was when he left office. We hear a lot of complaints these days about baby boomers clinging to power. Well, Biden and Sanders were born before the baby boom started in 1946.
Even as life expectancy has increased over time and we see more business titans working well into their 80s, it’s undeniable that somebody entering their 80s is at a much higher risk of rapid physical and cognitive decline over a four-year period than somebody decades younger. That’s especially worrisome in a job as demanding and important as the presidency.
There’s a reason why people retire as they get older. In the U.S., the labor force participation rate is 80% among those between 45 and 54, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. By 62 to 65, it reaches 50%. By ages 75 to 79, it declines to 12.1%, or just 8.4% for everybody 75 and older.
What I’d be curious about is to see a poll of Americans aged 78 to 83, i.e., the ages Sanders and Biden would be during their first term.
The question I’d pose, subject to revision by professional pollsters, would be something along lines of: “Do you believe somebody in their late 70s or early 80s would have the physical and mental stamina to hold a job as demanding as being President of the United States?”
My guess is, even accounting for the fact that some people are in denial of their own mortality, a very small percentage of people would answer “yes.”
Back in May, the Pew Research Center asked people what they viewed as the best age for the president, and just four percent of those over 70 said the best would be a person in their 70s. They didn’t ask about candidates in their 80s.
Either way, that’s a different question from asking people who have experience living life between 78 to 83 whether they believe somebody in that age range is up to the task of the presidency.
