Americans want upper-age limits and term limits for federally elected officials

Washington, DC, November 17, 2022  –   A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll finds that most Americans supports upper-age limits for political service as a member of Congress, a Supreme Court Justice, or the president. 

Two-thirds of Americans agree that there should be upper-age limits for service as president, senator and a member of House of Representatives (67%). Republicans (72%) and Democrats (69%) agree equally with this idea. Sixty-one percent of Americans say when a Supreme Court Justice reaches a certain age they should be forced to retire at the end of the court's term. Again, Republicans (62%) and Democrats (67%) agree on this concept. Four in five of Americans say that there should be term limits for the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate (79%), including 87% of Republicans and 80% of Democrats.

Demonstrating the complexity of perceptions and age, three in five Americans (61%) agree that leaders who are older often have valuable experience, and should not be discounted just because of their age. Additionally, a similar number of Americans say as long as a lawmaker or judge is in good health, they should not be barred from serving because of age (55%). Republicans and Democrats are equally likely to agree on both points.

About the Study

These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted on behalf of Reuters between November 9-10, 2022. For this survey, a sample of 1,003 Americans age 18+ from the continental U.S., Alaska, and Hawaii were interviewed online in English. The sample includes 468 Democrats, 342 Republicans, and 119 independents. Weighting was then employed to balance demographics to ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the adult population according to Census data and to provide results intended to approximate the sample universe. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within ± 3.8 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all Americans been polled. The credibility interval will be wider among subsets of the population. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including but not limited to coverage error and measurement error. The poll also has a credibility interval of ± 5.5 percentage points for Democrats, ± 6.5 percentage points for Republicans, and ± 11.0 percentage points for independents.

For more information on this news release, please contact:

Chris Jackson
Senior Vice President, US
Public Affairs
+1 202 420-2025
[email protected]

Annaleise Lohr
Director, US
Public Affairs
[email protected]

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