How old is too old to be running for president in the U.S.?

It’s an election year, and all over the news these days are the concerns surrounding the age of President Joe Biden, who is most likely going to be seeking a reelection.

In a recent press event held at the White House, Biden was asked by a reporter, “Mr. President: for months when you were asked about your age you would respond with the words ‘watch me.’ Well then the American people have been watching, and they have expressed concerns about your age.”

“That is your judgement, that is not the judgement of the press…I am the most qualified person in this country to be president of the United States, and finish the job I started,” Biden replied.

This was unfolded after a special counsel report released on Feb. 8 on Biden’s handling of classified documents. The report concluded that there would be no criminal charges on Biden.

In a recent survey done by the Pew Research Center, “When asked about the ideal age of a president, around half of Americans (49%) say they prefer someone in their 50s. Another 24% say its best for a president to be in their 60s, while 17% say they should be in their 40s.”

Biden will be 82 after the results of the election, and if he is reelected as president for another term, he will be 86 by the time 2028 rolls around. As for Trump, who hasn’t really felt the same amount of criticism for his age considering they are only about three years apart, he will be 78 this year. If he is elected as president (emphasis on the if), he will be 82 by the next election.

As for right now, the U.S. Constitution states that the president must “be a natural born citizen of the United States. Be at least 35 years old. Have been a resident of the United States for 14 years.” The Constitution does not state anything about a maximum age.

This is a topic that I have been thinking about recently. Should we implement some sort of age limit when it comes to running for president? I will admit I do have some concerns with the potential of a reelection of Biden or Trump holding office again. But where do you draw the line?

I recently stumbled upon an interesting segment of Morning Edition on NPR news, titled “Should there be an age limit to hold elected office?” This segment included Steve Inskeep and public health professor S. Jay Olshansky at the University of Illinois at Chicago who studies aging.

He specifically studies the longevity of U.S. presidents dating all the way back to George Washington. In this short podcast, they both talk about whether there should be an age limit to hold elected office.

Olshansky talks about chronological and biological age. Chronological age is how long you’ve existed, and biological age shows how old your cells are. Someone in their 70s or 80s might be that age chronologically, but biologically they might function years below that age. Olshansky does mention that the older we get, there is a higher risk of health issues.

However, this might not be the case for Biden and Trump.

Olshansky mentioned that after looking at the medical records of Biden and Trump, they discovered that they are both “exhibiting attributes that are associated with superagers, individuals that make it out very healthy and cognitively intact.”

Olshansky goes on to explain that superagers are “individuals that make it out past the age of 80 that are functioning at a cognitive level that is often decades younger than their chronological age.”

So how would we go about determining what age people would be too old to run for president? At that point it would tip toe on the line of age discrimination. You can’t just simply determine whether someone is fit to run a country based on their age alone, and that it is something to be taken case by case.