Politicians Should Know When to Retire | Opinion

Eighty-one-year old Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell recently "froze" during a weekly Republican news conference and was escorted away from journalists. This incident comes on the heels of growing concerns regarding the mental acuity and physical ability of Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, who at 90 years old, missed nearly three months and over 90 Senate votes as she recovered from a serious case of the shingles.

In the wake of McConnell's medical scare, Nikki Haley, former governor of South Carolina and current Republican presidential hopeful, called for McConnell to step aside and outlined her support for federal term limits and mental acuity tests for members of the U.S. Congress. Haley is not alone in questioning whether the nation's oldest members of Congress should "walk away."

Recent polling of California residents found that nearly two-thirds of Californians believe that Senator Feinstein is no longer fit to serve and a number of Democratic members of Congress, such as Representatives Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Dean Phillips (D-Minn.), have called for Feinstein to step down. Both McConnell and Feinstein announced that they intend to serve their remaining terms in office, but only Feinstein has publicly announced she will not seek re-election in 2024.

These controversies are more than just about prominent members of the U.S. Congress. The issue arises because our national leadership is aging significantly. Congress is older than it has ever been. The median senator is 65 years old, and nearly three of four senators are members of the Silent (born between 1928-1945) or Baby Boomer (born between 1946-1964) generations. Meanwhile, at 80 years old, President Joe Biden is the oldest person ever elected president of the United States.

There are strong signs that Americans are uneasy with the graying of our nation's leadership. In June, we asked a representative sample of over 1,000 Americans whether they support the passage of a constitutional amendment that would establish a maximum age to serve in the U.S. Senate. We found that over two-thirds of Americans (67 percent) expressed support for this constitutional amendment, with only 11 percent expressing opposition to such a change.

In an era rife with partisan, racial, class, and generational divisions, the passage of this constitutional amendment enjoyed majoritarian support from Democrats (68 percent), Republicans (72 percent), Independents (55 percent), African Americans (64 percent), Latinos (62 percent), Asians (65 percent), white people (68 percent), young Americans (61 percent), middle aged Americans (67 percent), older Americans (68 percent), and across all income and education levels. In a poll from last January, we found that similar majorities of Americans also favored a constitutional age limit for election to the presidency.

When we asked respondents about what the maximum age of service should be, the average maximum age was 66 for the U.S. Senate and 67 for the presidency. Unsurprisingly, older Americans favored a later cut-off age than younger Americans. But even older Americans (those 55 and up) suggested an average maximum age of 69 for the Senate, and an average maximum age of 70 for the presidency. Younger Americans indicated an average maximum age of 59 for the Senate and 63 for the presidency. If implemented, any such amendments would disqualify many sitting senators as well as the current president.

So why are Americans so willing to consider age limits for service in positions of national leadership? Age, unfortunately, isn't just a number. While it is essential to avoid age-based discrimination, there are reasons for concern about a graying national leadership. First, as seen with Senators McConnell and Feinstein, elderly Americans are much more likely to face serious health problems that may interfere with the responsibilities of their elective office.

Perhaps more importantly, older Americans tend to have very different views on important issues than do younger Americans. Older Americans have more conservative positions on a wide range of matters, from climate change to transgender rights to housing policy. Older Americans are entitled to fair representation in the federal government. But when half of the country is under 38, while only 5 percent of Congress is, something in our system of representation is seriously out of balance.

We should honor the contributions of older Americans serving in national elective office. And while we probably don't need to amend the Constitution to establish a maximum age of service, the fact that so many Americans support such an idea suggests that we need to have a national conversation about how to bring more youthfulness into our national politics. Doing so will help ensure that Americans of all ages enjoy fair representation in the halls of power.

Tatishe Nteta is provost professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and the director of the UMass Poll.

Jesse Rhodes is professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and co-director of the UMass Poll.

Adam Eichen is a research fellow for the UMass Poll.

The views expressed in this article are the writers' own.