Why the U.S. elects so many older politicians

President Joe Biden, age 81, ended his 2024 reelection bid as concern for his vitality mounted within the Democratic Party.

“There are cognitive issues,” said former Senator Bob Kerry, D-Neb., in a July interview with CNBC.

The issue of aging lawmakers in the U.S. extends well beyond the presidency. At the start of the 118th Congress, the average age in the Senate and the House of Representatives was 64 and 57, respectively, according to researchers at FiscalNote.

“The age of our politicians is kind of baked into the preferences of our voters,” said Christian Fong, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Michigan. “They want somebody who is successful in a different job, first as a soldier, or as a businessman, or as a farmer. And then they want them to bring that experience and perspective to Washington.”

National lawmakers in the U.S. are among the world’s oldest, according to a 2022 Stanford University study. The median age of the U.S. population — 38.9 in 2022 — is older than it has ever been, according to the Population Reference Bureau. The age of the typical registered voter was 50 in 2019, up from 44 in 1996, according to a Pew Research study.

Older voters tend to favor Republican politicians, whereas younger generations typically have a preference for Democrats. That said, Democratic Party legislators are slightly older than their Republican counterparts on average.

“It doesn’t have to be generational warfare or anything like that. But it does really, really matter for representation in terms of the quality of the legislation that’s going to be coming out of Congress,” said Charles Hunt, an assistant professor of political science at Boise State University.

President Biden’s endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris, age 59, led to a boom in Democratic Party donations. Earlier in July, former President Donald Trump, age 78, selected JD Vance, age 39, to be his running mate, a signal that a new generation of leaders could be moving up the ranks in Washington.

Watch the video above to learn how older politicians cling to power in Washington.