Trump versus Biden? Young voters not excited about choosing between oldest candidates ever

Next year's elections could pit an octogenarian Democrat against a septuagenarian Republican — who would then be in his 80s at the end of the presidential term should he win.

The prospect of choosing between the 46th president, Joe Biden, and the 45th president, Donald Trump, is underwhelming to the growing number of voters under the age of 40. At 80 and 77, respectively, both Biden and Trump are more than twice the age of the bulk of millennial and Gen Z citizens.

"I'd like a younger president," said A.J. Seker, 18, who is leaning toward casting a ballot for Biden because he is the "lesser of two evils" compared to Trump. "I think that young people would be more behind Biden, if they have the right message."

"(Trump) doesn't really look worn down compared to Biden," said Megan Rodriguez, 22, who generally votes Republican, but thinks the former president displays "more energy" and would better hold up during the constitutionally limited single term if he should win.

"But I don't think anybody in their 80s should be making decisions for our country because you're just in a very vulnerable position just because of your age."

The doubts about the two leading candidates' advanced ages appears widely shared.

An AP-NORC poll from late August showed that 76% of Democrats ages 18 to 29 believed that Biden was too old to run for president again. In a September poll looking at the potential 2024 rematch between Biden and Trump, about 76% of American voters told pollsters they believed Biden was too old to serve another term and nearly half said they 48% believed Trump was also too old for another term.

It's a view that appears more prevalent among younger Americans for various reasons, from appearances to policy.

An aging leader stumbling over a sandbag, or freezing during a news conference, is not a good look. On policy, Baby Boomer politicians' formative years during the Cold War, which ended before many under 30 were born and when artificial intelligence was fodder for sci-fi movies rather than an existential threat to jobs, don't inspire confidence, let alone commonality of purpose.

Political experts say the rise of younger voters will challenge get-out-the-vote efforts by both parties in 2024.

"Older generations tend to be more party loyalists," said Susan MacManus, a longtime analyst in Florida. "Younger people are all about the issues or the character or inspirational nature of a candidate. They are not party-centric."

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In July, Trump was the featured speaker at a Turning Point Action conference in West Palm Beach where hundreds of young voters cheered the former president's remarks.

Trump struck themes in his speech that seem to resonate with the audience, including ending "diversity, equity and inclusion" in educational programs, restoring energy independence so "young people can once again afford to buy a house" and requiring universities to offer job and career placement services in order to receive federal dollars.

Jacob Aguirre, a 21-year old leader in Florida International University's College Republicans, said Trump displayed an energetic spirit and has governing experience.

Aguirre said he believes a candidate's age is important since "we're voting on people who are going to make policies that are going to affect us for the next couple of decades." Yet he said that he believes Trump has experience in "governing effectively," and that he'll be able to "come back stronger" for the elections despite his age.

"Age is definitely not something that is going to be a target to him (Trump), and it's not going to hurt him, because he's proven to still be somewhat agile," Aguirre said. "I mean, the guy is still playing golf tournaments."

Yet the Pew Research Center found in a June 2021 study of the 2020 elections that voters 18 to 29 at that time favored Biden by 59% to Trump's 35%.

Moreover, Trump's rhetoric as of late has been, well, fringe. He has called for a seemingly unrealistic plan to dampen California forests to thwart wildfires that researchers say are being worsened by climate change, a top issue for young voters that Trump continues to diss as a "hoax."

On another issue, abortion, hardline positions by Republican leaders, including the six-week ban promoted by Gov. Ron DeSantis, one of the younger choices in the GOP field, appear to turn off middle-of-the-road voters.

Trump appears to have taken notice and has moderated his position by calling for restrictive abortion laws to include exceptions for rape, incest and for the mother's health.

Nonetheless, Trump's boasting that it was his three U.S. Supreme Court nominees that led the charge against Roe v. Wade abortion protections has sown significant distrust among voters who believe in unfettered reproductive rights.

Biden's second-term aspirations are weighed down by an approval rating among the general population that remains close to 40%. The president has sought to improve his standing among younger voters by associating with singer Olivia Rodrigo, who joined the president in videos that were posted on social media, and K-pop group BTS appearing at the White House to address anti-Asian hate crimes.

Still, the president is struggling with young voters after failing to deliver on key campaign promises, like canceling student-loan debt and restricting accessibility to assault rifles.

Yet Jayden D'Onofrio, an 18-year-old Tallahassee Community College student who is also chair of the state Democratic Party's youth council, said he believes young voters will turn out in 2024 for Biden because of his climate policies and his commitment to relieving student debt.

"There's the support of Biden and his policies that continuously support younger voters, despite his age," D'Onofrio said. "And then there's the other side of it, of we will never endure policies and division that stems from someone like Donald Trump again."

Moreover, some voters say they are suspicious of the constant talk about Biden's age, and even the ridiculing from Republican officials and conservative media that the president is "confused."

Jessica Siles, a 23-year-old Democrat who recently graduated from University of Central Florida, said that relentless focus on Biden's age is a "targeted attack that has originated from the right."

"In a perfect world, I think that I would see more representation in my government, for age-wise," Siles said. "It's a targeted attack (against Biden) in my opinion, that I don't think is going to hold a lot of weight in the next election."

Others say that Biden's gaffes get disproportionate attention as Trump's blunders get far less notice. An example was the former president's recent mix up of Oscar-winning actor Anthony Hopkins and the cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter, who Hopkins portrayed in the 1991 psychological thriller "The Silence of the Lambs."

“Hannibal Lecter, how great an actor was he?” Trump said during a rally in Iowa.

Young voters in 2024 may be a more critical demographic

Every election cycle, both Democrats and Republicans try to win over the "youth vote."

Data from the Census Bureau and analyzed by the Brookings Institution reveals the number of Americans in the millennial, Gen Z and younger generations — essentially those under the age of 40 — total 166 million people, just over half the population of the United States

Their share of the electorate is bound to grow as they reach voting age and the Baby Boomer segment declines. It's been reported that roughly 4 million Americans turn 18 every year, while 2.5 million older Americans pass away. By the time the polls open in 2024, statistically speaking, there will have been a 52 million-person swing in generations since the 2016 election.

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In Florida, the under 30 year-old voters only make up 13% of the state's registered voters, as of late July.

Florida voter registration numbers from July showed that most voters ages 18 to 29 have not been won over by either party, since about 40% are registered as no-party affiliated. Democrats list just 33% of the demographic, with Republicans trailing at 26%.

The Tufts University Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement estimated that 50% of people ages 18 to 29 voted in the 2020 presidential elections, which was one of the highest rates of youth voter participation since the voting age was lowered to 18 ahead of the 1972 election year. Youth voter turnout in Florida during the 2020 election reached 54%, Tufts said, a 10-percentage point increase from 2016.

Tufts also reported that last year's midterm election registered turnout at about 27% among those ages 18 to 29 and that these voters showed a strong preference for Democrats. The Tufts study also reported that 44% of voters in this demographic listed abortion as the top issue for them.

The chase for votes from voters under the age of 25 has already begun.

Last month, Vice President Kamala Harris ventured to FIU in Miami-Dade County's largely Hispanic, conservative suburban communities for a moderated discussion with students. There was a moment during the discussion that was both poignant and telling.

That's when almost every student in the audience raised their hand when Harris asked whether they had participated in an active shooter drill at anytime in school from kindergarten through high school.

Maya Saluck was one of these students who raised her hand. The 18 year-old biological sciences major considers gun safety a top issue, along with abortion and LGBTQ+ rights.

Voting is important to Saluck, she said, because she doesn't "want to be in a country where I am just there and I don't have my rights." Since Biden and Harris align with her political priorities, she said she feels motivated by their campaign although the president's age concerns her.

"It's kind of just like a seesaw for me," Saluck said. "Yes, he's older, but he does know more."

Stephany Matat is a politics reporter for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY-Florida network. Reach her at smatat@pbpost.com. Support local journalism: Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Young voters not excited by Trump-Biden rematch of oldest candidates ever