A majority of Utahns aren’t worried about Donald Trump’s age as he campaigns for another term as president, but just over half believe elected officials shouldn’t serve past age 70, and some would set the limit even earlier.
This is an interesting contrast to the question of whether 78-year-old Trump – the oldest Republican presidential candidate in history – is mentally fit enough to lead the country. If re-elected in November, Trump’s term would end just months before his 83rd birthday, making him two years older than President Joe Biden is today.
A new Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll found that 60% of Utah voters are not or only a little concerned about Trump’s age. Another 38% are very or somewhat concerned, while just 2% said they didn’t know. HarrisX conducted the poll from August 2-9 among 800 registered voters in Utah. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
The full data set for the latest Deseret News/Hinckley Institute poll in Utah can be found here.
As expected, supporters of the two major political parties have starkly different views. The poll shows that 83 percent of people who identify themselves as Democrats are concerned about the former president’s age, while 79 percent of people who identify themselves as Republicans are not.
Yet 62 percent of Utahns believe there should be an age limit for elected officials—that is, they must be under a certain age to hold office. Twenty-three percent say there shouldn’t be one, and 15 percent don’t know.
More than half of respondents, 54 percent, who plan to vote for Trump in November say there should be an age limit. Among those who plan to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, that number rises to 76 percent. Even among those who voted for Biden in 2020, 72 percent supported an age limit, compared to 51 percent of Trump voters.
“Utah citizens generally agree that there should be an upper age limit for holding higher office. This shows that they are all concerned about whether older politicians can remain effective. But when it comes to choosing specific candidates, many voters tend to stay loyal to their party, even if it means supporting an older candidate. This shows how strong party loyalty is in our elections,” said Jason Perry, director of the Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah.
Among those who favor an age limit, 70 was the most popular choice across all political parties, most age groups, and for both men and women. People under 50 would set the age limit at 65, and 65 was the second most popular choice among all poll respondents. Republicans in the poll were more willing to raise the limit to 80 than Democrats. Overall, 70% of Utahns would set the age limit at 65 to 75, the poll found.
A Deseret News/Hinckley Institute poll in October 2023 found similar results, with a larger percentage of respondents aged 80 or younger compared to the new poll.
Perry said the new poll shows a clear generational divide. Younger voters – 79 percent of 18- to 34-year-olds – favored an age limit. Older voters, particularly those over 65, are less supportive of an age limit – only about 46 percent favor it.
“This could be because they see themselves in these older candidates or believe that age brings valuable experience. On the other hand, younger voters, who are more likely to support age limits, want new ideas and are ready for a younger generation to take the lead. This generational gap underscores the complex ways in which age, experience and party loyalty influence people’s voting behavior,” he said.
In addition to Trump’s age, the survey also asked respondents about his cognitive ability to hold the highest office in the land. The former president has come under increasing scrutiny for apparent memory lapses and gaffes in public since Biden withdrew from the race. “His lack of visibility shows that Republicans now face the same age and coherence concerns they raised against Biden, and Trump’s gaffes may be getting more attention now that Biden has resigned,” Heather Cox Richardson, an author and professor of history at Boston College, wrote last month, according to Newsweek.
Harris, 59, is at the top of the Democratic ticket, and instead of attacking “Sleepy Joe,” Trump is being confronted with digs about his age. At a fundraiser in California this month, Democratic presidential candidate Tim Walz, 60, called Trump “lacking energy,” “tired” and the “guy who needs a little rest on the weekend.”
The Utah poll found that 65 percent of Utahns believe Trump is mentally fit to be president, while 35 percent doubt his mental fitness. Again, the answers differed greatly between the political parties. According to the poll, 87 percent of Republicans say Trump is mentally fit, while 91 percent of Democrats doubt this.
The poll combined fitness and age in a single question and also asked, “Do you think Donald Trump is showing that he is too old to be president, or do you think he is showing that he is fit to be president?”
Sixty-three percent of Utahns say Trump shows he is fit, and 37 percent say he shows he is too old. Republicans overwhelmingly say the former president is fit, while Democrats overwhelmingly say he is too old.
The general health of a president has also become an increasingly important topic of discussion. As Dr. Marc Siegel recently pointed out in a commentary in The Hill, the American presidency has never been known for its transparency on health issues, quite the opposite.
Siegel, a professor of medicine and medical director of Doctor Radio at NYU Langone Health, wrote last month that he had been calling for a full and transparent assessment of Biden’s health since before Biden took office. “Dr. Kevin O’Connor’s extensive annual physicals (including the most recent one in February) are medically unsatisfactory. They make no mention of cognitive testing or brain MRI scans, despite the fact that the President frequently experiences memory lapses, periods of disorientation, and inability to complete complete sentences,” he wrote.
To this end, the survey asks: “Who should be responsible for keeping the public informed about an elected official’s health status and ability to hold public office?”
The results show that 53% of respondents believe it is the elected officials’ staff, 41% believe it is party leaders, and 28% believe it is the elected officials’ families. Another 26% believe it is the media’s responsibility and 10% believe it is none of the public’s business.
