At their first inauguration, our 43 U.S. presidents* have ranged in age from almost 43 to almost 70. More than half were in their 50s. Their median age was 55, and so was their average age.
But in 2016, now that we're down to eight candidates (Bush, Carson, Cruz, Kasich, Rubio, and Trump vs. Clinton and Sanders), not a single candidate is in his or her 50s.
Rubio: 45 years, 237 days
Cruz: 46 years, 29 days
Bush: 63 years, 343 days
Kasich: 64 years, 245 days
Carson: 65 years, 124 days
Bush: 63 years, 343 days
Kasich: 64 years, 245 days
Carson: 65 years, 124 days
Clinton: 69 years, 86 days
Trump: 70 years, 220 days
Sanders: 75 years, 134 days
A few 50-something wannabes have dropped out of the race (Christie, O'Malley, Paul, Santorum), as did some 60-somethings (Huckabee, Fiorina, Gilmore). If the polls are right, the remaining 60-somethings who have not yet reached Social Security's full retirement age (Bush, Kasich, Carson) will not be in the running much longer. If they drop out, we will be left with no candidate over 46 or under 69 on January 20, 2017.
I made a chart to see how weird this is. The current candidates' ages are highlighted in yellow.**
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| To see a chart you can actually read, click here. |
Cruz and Rubio are younger than every elected president except John F. Kennedy (Teddy Roosevelt was even younger, but he became president when McKinley was assassinated).
Clinton is older than every president except Ronald Reagan. Trump and Sanders are older than any president ever.
Looked at another way, the most likely candidates are either younger than my firstborn or older than me. I find this slightly scary.
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*Yes, I know Mr. Obama is #44 - that's because Grover Cleveland, who was elected to two non-subsequent terms, is counted twice in most lists but not here.----------------------------------------
**Red print indicates names and ages of the 16 presidents who served at least two nearly full terms. Except for Ronald Reagan, none of these was older than 62 at first inauguration.
2 comments:
A lawyer friend who is Ukrainian born and writes on the situation in Ukraine has made a similar observation about Ukrainian politics. An older generation and younger generation are active--but where are the people/activists who have some experience and still some vigor (not to imply that Trump and Sanders aren't showing vigor at least in the short-term)? The piece I'm thinking of I'm sure was in the LA Times, but I don't seem to have a URL for it, maybe 18 months ago. Just interesting that I made the connection between the two pieces.
Everyone should read Tom Friedman in today's NYTimes - could not be stated in a better fashion as to the roster of candidates - It "scares" me also.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/17/opinion/who-are-we.html
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