---
title: "About half of Americans say the best age for a U.S. president is in their 50s"
description: "When asked about the ideal age of a president, around half of Americans (49%) say they prefer someone in their 50s."
date: "2023-07-06"
authors:
  - name: "Katy Lin"
    job_title: "Intern"
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/katy-lin/"
  - name: "Amina Dunn"
    job_title: "Former Research Analyst"
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/amina-dunn/"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/07/06/about-half-of-americans-say-the-best-age-for-a-us-president-is-in-their-50s/"
categories:
  - "Comparison of Age Groups"
  - "Generations, Age & Politics"
  - "Leaders"
datasets:
  - name: "American Trends Panel Wave 129"
    url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/dataset/american-trends-panel-wave-129/"
---

# About half of Americans say the best age for a U.S. president is in their 50s

When asked about the ideal age of a president, around half of Americans (49%) say they prefer someone in their 50s, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey.

**How we did this**

Pew Research Center conducted this study to better understand Americans’ views on their ideal age of a president as the 2024 presidential campaign begins. For this analysis, we surveyed 5,115 adults from June 5 to 11, 2023. Everyone who took part in this survey is a member of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. This way nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories. [Read more about the ATP’s methodology](https://www.pewresearch.org/our-methods/u-s-surveys/the-american-trends-panel/).

Here are the [questions used ](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/SR_2023.07.06_president-age_topline.pdf)for the report and its [methodology](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2023/06/21/national-problems-methodology/).

[![A bar chart that shows older U.S. adults are more likely to prefer having an older president.](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/07/SR_2023.07.06_president-age_1.png?w=310)](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/07/06/about-half-of-americans-say-the-best-age-for-a-us-president-is-in-their-50s/sr_2023-07-06_president-age_1-png/)

Another 24% say it’s best for a president to be in their 60s, while 17% say they should be in their 40s.

Just 3% of Americans say they prefer a president to be in their 70s or older. An equally tiny share (3%) say it’s best for a president to be in their 30s. (The [minimum age](https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/elections/presidential-election-process/requirements-for-the-president-of-the-united-states/) for a presidential candidate is 35.)

The survey asked Americans about the best age for presidents generally. It did not refer to President Joe Biden – at 80, [the oldest president in U.S. history](https://www.axios.com/2022/11/19/joe-biden-oldest-us-presidents-in-office) – or former President Donald Trump, who is 77.

#### Age differences in views of the ideal age for a president

Younger adults are more favorable than older Americans toward presidents being in their 30s and 40s. About half (48%) of adults under the age of 30 say it is ideal for a president to be in their 30s or 40s; only 6% of adults over the age of 50 share this view.

By contrast, older adults prefer a president who is in their 60s or older. For example, 41% of adults in their 50s or older say they prefer a president in their 60s or older. Only 11% of adults in their 30s or younger say the same.

#### Partisan views of the ideal age for a president

Democrats and Republicans have similar views about the best age range for a president.

[![A bar chart showing that Republicans and Democrats hold similar views on the ideal age of a U.S. president.](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/07/SR_2023.07.06_president-age_2.png?w=310)](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/07/06/about-half-of-americans-say-the-best-age-for-a-us-president-is-in-their-50s/sr_2023-07-06_president-age_2-png/)

Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents are slightly more likely than Republicans and Republican leaners (25% vs. 15%) to prefer presidents in their 30s and 40s, while Republicans are slightly more likely than Democrats to prefer presidents in their 60s or older (32% vs. 24%). However, these minor differences are largely due to the [age composition of the parties](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2020/06/02/the-changing-composition-of-the-electorate-and-partisan-coalitions/).

Among Democrats, views on the ideal age range for a president are [similar to what they were during the 2020 presidential election cycle](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2019/05/23/nearly-half-of-democrats-say-the-best-age-for-a-president-is-in-their-50s/). The question was not asked of Republicans in the 2019 survey.

*Note: Here are the [questions used](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/SR_2023.07.06_president-age_topline.pdf) for the report and its [methodology](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2023/06/21/national-problems-methodology/).*