Democratic and Liberal political analysis and commentary

What is the optimum age for the president of the United States? It depends who is asked.

Young people prefer a young president, according to a poll of those from ages 17-to-29 that was conducted by The New York Times and CBS News with MTV.

As a group, these young adults say the presidency is an office best occupied by someone (relatively) young — 44 percent of those polled prefer a president in his/her 40’s, 33 percent said 50’s, and 14 percent said the 30’s. Only 5 percent said 60’s and 1 percent said 70’s.

The preferences of young Republicans differ from their peers while young Democrats are generally aligned with all young people. Forty-eight percent of young Republicans would opt for a president in his/her 50’s, 34 percent in the 40’s, 10 percent in the 60’s, and 7 percent in the 30’s.

None of these young people whose party boasts the only candidate in his 70’s, Senator John McCain, would want someone in the White House who is in his age range.

The same question was asked nationally in March by The Times and CBS News, and the results were markedly different among all adults. A majority of adults, 52 percent, said the 50’s were the most appropriate age for a president, followed by 28 percent who preferred someone in the 40’s age-range. Nine percent chose the 60’s, and just 5 percent said in the 30’s. Less than 1 percent opted for someone in the 70’s.

The most recent nationwide telephone poll was conducted June 15-23 with 659 young adults aged 17-29. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 4 percentage points for all respondents.