In a fresh polling blow for Donald Trump, a majority of Republican voters have said they would prefer a president who is younger than the 78-year-old former commander-in-chief.
In a YouGov poll conducted between July 25-29, 59 percent of Republicans surveyed said they would prefer a president under the age of 75. Trump celebrated his 78th birthday in June. Forty percent said they had no preference, and just two percent said they would prefer a president over the age of 75.
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Democratic voters were particularly keen on a younger candidate, with 73 percent indicating they would prefer a president 64-years-old or below. Twenty-four percent had no preference.
YouGov said the poll was conducted online among 2,266 U.S. adult citizens, and the margin of error was approximately three percent.
A separate poll conducted by Reuters and Ipsos last week found that 53 percent of U.S. adults nationwide (from a sample size of 1,241) agreed with the statement that Trump is too old to work in government, while 43 percent disagreed.
This latest poll could suggest the tables are turning on Trump, who regularly attacked his former rival, President Joe Biden, over his age. Biden is 81.
Trump seemed to row back on this sentiment at recent remarks at a rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
“81 is not old,” Trump said, and now Biden has withdrawn from the race, Trump is faced with a substantially younger competitor in Vice President Kamala Harris, who will turn 60 just weeks before Election Day.
Biden announced he would be dropping out of the race for the White House following weeks of pressure mounting from both within and outside the Democratic Party in the wake of a disastrous presidential debate performance.
In an address from the Oval Office in the days following his announcement, Biden partly framed his decision to step aside as passing “the torch to a new generation.”
Trump announced 39-year-old Ohio Senator JD Vance as his running mate last month, but Harris has yet to formalize her pick for vice president.
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz have emerged as some of the most likely candidates to join Harris on the Democratic ticket in November.
