As U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Cambridge) seeks another term in office, many Massachusetts voters say that politicians like her are too old to serve in the U.S. Senate.
Warren will be 75 years old next year, and she wants another six years in the U.S. Senate. If she wins re-election in 2024 and serves for another four years, that would make her 81 at the end of her third term. And while Massachusetts voters generally support Warren, they also want younger politicians on Capitol Hill, a recent UMass Amherst poll showed.
A U.S. senator must be at least 30 years old to serve, and there is no maximum age for one to serve. However, the recent poll found that 76 percent of Bay State voters say there should be a maximum age limit to serve in the United States Senate while just 11 percent disagreed; 13 percent said they would neither support nor oppose such a measure.
Among those who supported an age limit, the average Massachusetts respondent said such a limit should be 67 years old. If such an age limit were to become law, it would make 61 years old the maximum age at which a person could be elected to serve a six-year term in the U.S. Senate.
This was a year older than what the median American voter said. Nationwide, voters prefer a maximum age for U.S. senators of 66 years old. Additionally, the age-limit idea has 67 percent support and 11 percent opposition nationwide, the poll found; 22 percent neither support nor oppose the idea.
Even so, Warren is favored to win her re-election bid. To date, she does not have any Democratic primary challenger. Sabato’s Crystal Ball says the race is safe Democratic.
Bay State voters don’t have much issue with Warren. In the same poll, Warren had a 55 percent approval rating, while 33 percent disapproved of her.
UMass Amherst political scientist Jesse Rhodes said that while Bay Staters would prefer someone younger than Warren, they’re not ready to throw her out of office just yet.
“Massachusetts residents overwhelmingly support a maximum age limit to serve in the U.S. Senate,” Rhodes said in a press release issued by the school. “Rather than representing a negative commentary on the commonwealth’s two senators, Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, this strong sentiment should be understood as reflecting broader frustration with our aging ruling class. Indeed, this sentiment is in line with national attitudes, which reveal similar support for a maximum age limit for federal offices. As both Massachusetts and national polls suggest, Americans are very concerned that our aging leadership class is out of touch with the concerns of a younger, more diverse America.”
In this election cycle, Warren currently has two challengers: Robert Antonellis of Wareham, a Republican who has not held elected office; and Whitman planning board member Brandon Griffin, a member of the Workers Party of Massachusetts, a socialist party.
Warren cruised to re-election in 2018 against then-state representative Geoff Diehl (R-Whitman); she got 60 percent of the vote, while Diehl got 36 percent. She has served in the U.S. Senate since 2013.
At 74, Warren is the younger U.S. senator from Massachusetts. U.S. Senator Ed Markey (D-Malden) is 77 years old; he was 74 when the Bay State re-elected him in 2020.
The press office for Senator Warren could not be reached for comment on Monday or Tuesday.
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