Is there an ideal age for presidential candidates?

[Agschmid]

Americans say the ideal would be between ages 40 and 59, but in practice other factors may be more important

Bernie Sanders announced last week that he would be running for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016. Sen. Sanders of Vermont is not technically a Democrat – he runs as an independent and has called himself a socialist – but his candidacy is also significant for his age: Sanders will be 75 by November 2016, and, if he won, would be the oldest nominee US presidential history.

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Of course, Sen. Sanders's polling numbers make his chances look extremely remote. But the outright Democratic frontrunner, Hillary Clinton, would also be historic: at 69, she would be the oldest nominee in the Democratic Party's 188-year history.

YouGov’s latest polling finds that, when asked directly, the vast majority of Americans would set the “ideal” age range for a new president much lower than Clinton’s or Sanders’s age. In fact, less than 1% of Americans say the “ideal” is 70 years old or higher, and 92% put the ideal range below 60. A candidate can also be too young – only 9% want a president under 40 – and most want him or her to be 40-49 (38%) or 50-59 (44%).

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There is relatively little difference between Democratic and Republican identifiers on this issue: both are most likely to pick the 50-59 range. Democrats are more likely to pick 60-69 – possiby an acknowledgement of Clinton – but 87% nevertheless say the ideal age is under 60. There is a much more dramatic difference between the views of younger and older Americans, who each prefer a candidate closer to their own age.

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[MaggieD]

1. This is why i say Bernie....

Is a longshot. Age, socialist label, and inability to raise large sums of campaign money. All difficult obstacles to overcome individually. All three together makes it almost impossible, IMO.

[man4allcats]

2. At least as far as Republicans are concerned,

they should be old enough to know better than to speak and act like ignorant jackasses. Then again, I expect few Republicans ever reach that level of sophistication.

[treestar]

3. Late 40s and 50s

You have maximum experience but are not yet in any form of decline

[Agschmid]

4. Sort of how I feel about it.

[giftedgirl77]

6. Agreed

[Scuba]

5. Yeah, 35 and over.

[Agschmid]

7. Yup, that's the law.

[Lurks Often]

8. This is why some of us think neither Clinton or Sanders could win a general election

Some can put aside what we might want to happen and look at the above link & past history (putting race and gender aside) and question the ability of the two most prominent current candidates for the Democratic nominee to win in November 2016.

I know at least a few people who voted for President Obama simply because they felt McCain was too old.

I could very well be wrong, we'll find out in about 18 months. A lot can happen between now and the Democratic National Convention. We'll see what happens between now and then