If polls are anything to go by, the 2024 U.S. election is looking more and more likely to be a repeat of the 2020 contest between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
If this is the case, the winning candidate will either be 86 or 82 years old by the time he finishes his second term in January 2029.
Although studies show that aging can bring positive cognitive changes, there is simply no evidence that having lived longer and experienced more things makes us wiser. In fact, one study suggests that wisdom starts to decline around 70 to 75 years of age, and that our decision making becomes more random and disjointed.
“People certainly aren’t always at peak brainpower in old age,” writes Molly Edmonds in howstuffworks.com. “After all, when wrinkles begin appearing on the face, it usually means that wrinkles have started disappearing on the brain.”
Many Americans, especially younger voters, will find it hard to reconcile their disappointment at another Biden versus Trump standoff. Can two 80-year-olds have any deep understanding of the 20- to 40-year-old U.S. demographic, the issues that concern them most, their cultural differences and aspirations?
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