Writing in the student newspaper at Edwardsville High School in Illinois, Veda Kommineni asks readers to ponder a question that has been on many people’s mind during the current presidential campaign: How old is too old to be president?
Aug. 2022: President Biden and Ed. Sec’y Miguel Cardona (Prachatai/Flickr Creative Commons)“This upcoming election is the first my age group will be able to vote in, and the options aren’t looking promising,” she writes. “Neither Biden nor Trump have been 17 years old since the 1960s, making it nearly impossible for either to understand and prioritize the needs of younger generations.”
What priorities are those? Global warming, minimum-wage increases, and free college tuition take front and center for the writer, who goes on to point out that “if we set a maximum age limit of [60] years, 71% of our current senators would be ineligible to serve.” She’s not alone in these sentiments, either. More than half (58%) of Americans say there should be a maximum age limit for political office.
Indeed, calls for President Joe Biden to step down have been heard across the nation, and about 60 percent of voters said former President Donald Trump was too old for a second term, according to an ABC News poll conducted before Saturday’s assassination attempt. That attempt has also ground calls for Mr Biden to step down to a screeching halt.
So, while Veda certainly speaks for the young generation at her school, those views are felt by the majority of registered voters in the US. And although the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee formally nominated Mr Trump just today, Veda’s article was originally written before that happened. I suspect her views haven’t changed though — about either candidate.
A question to ponder: What amendments would you like to see added to the US Constitution and why? The last amendment (the 27th) was ratified on May 7, 1992. It forbids any changes to the salary of Congress members from taking effect until the next election concludes.
