Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, 44, may be polling far behind his much older contender for the GOP 2024 presidential election nomination (77-year-old Donald Trump), but he insisted this week that America needs younger leaders.
“It seems like our leadership class now, in Washington, 75, 80, 80 plus years old, is where those folks are. And I think that – I think Americans, if we – if Biden is the Democratic nominee and I’m the Republican nominee, I think that there’s a lot of Americans that are gonna want to see a generational passing of the torch,” he told CBS Evening News host Norah O’Donnell Tuesday.
Pew Research Center data from this year showed that Congress is currently mostly made up of politicians from the baby boomer generation. The median age House of Representatives members is around 58 years old, and it’s 65 years old for members of the Senate.
Trump has also maintained a lead over DeSantis in the GOP polls, even as the mountain of legal troubles he faces grows. As of Wednesday, poll data gathered by FiveThirtyEight indicated he had support from more than 55% of Republicans. DeSantis maintained a second-place position over the other candidates with a little more than 14%.
FiveThirtyEight is tracking just one other Democratic candidate besides current President Joe Biden, 80. That’s 69-year-old Robert Kennedy, Jr. As of Wednesday, Biden was ahead of Kennedy at the polls, at 66.7% to 11.1%.
Recently, “The On Deadline Podcast” from Audacy covered concerns voters and experts have about both Biden and Trump’s ages. Quinnipiac University Poll results released Wednesday show that the majority of Americans today (61%) do in fact support setting a maximum age limit for presidential candidates.
“There is strong support among all listed groups,” including Democrats, Republicans and Independents, said Quinnipiac. Former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, who is also vying to become the GOP’s 2024 candidate, has even proposed mandatory mental health exams for all politicians over age 75.
“I think that’s absolutely a legitimate concern,” DeSantis told O’Donnell. “The presidency is not a job for someone that’s 80 years old.”
He also said that he believes the Founding Fathers might have put age limits on some positions if they saw today’s political landscape. According to the National Constitution Center, life expectancy was in the 30s during the early days of the United States.
“There’s nothing wrong with being 80,” said DeSantis. “Obviously, I’m the governor of Florida, I know a lot of people who are elderly. They’re great people, but you’re talking about a job where you need to give it 100%.
You need an energetic president.”