Even in hardcore Republican states like Florida and Texas GOP is losing ground lately. Now, a new national survey suggests that concerns about age and temperament are shaping how many Americans view President Donald Trump, including a notable share of his own party.
According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in the days before Trump’s State of the Union address, 61 percent of respondents said the 79-year-old president has “become erratic with age.” The finding cuts across party lines. While 89 percent of Democrats agreed with that characterization, so did 64 percent of independents. Even among Republicans, 30 percent said they believed the president’s behavior had grown erratic over time.
The poll was released against the backdrop of a turbulent political stretch. Trump, who began his second term at age 78, making him the oldest president ever sworn in, has governed at a rapid and often combative pace.
In recent months, he has rolled out sweeping tariffs on imports from dozens of countries and overseen aggressive immigration enforcement operations involving masked federal agents. His public remarks, meanwhile, have frequently drifted into campaign-style speeches that mix policy announcements with personal grievances.
The president has also continued to use his social media platform, Truth Social, to sharply criticize opponents and institutions. After the Supreme Court ruled that his global tariff policies were illegal, Trump lashed out at the justices.
“They’re against anything that makes America strong, healthy and great again. They are also frankly a disgrace to our nation, those justices,” he wrote, adding that they were “very unpatriotic and disloyal to our Constitution.”
Last November, he described several Democratic lawmakers, including Senator Mark Kelly, as “traitors” after they urged members of the U.S. military to reject unlawful orders. Trump suggested such actions could warrant execution, comments that drew widespread attention and condemnation at the time.
The White House has dismissed the new polling as politically motivated. Spokesman Davis Ingle characterized the Reuters/Ipsos findings as “fake and desperate narratives,” arguing that Trump’s “sharpness, unmatched energy, and historic accessibility” distinguish him from his predecessor, Joe Biden.
Yet the survey points to broader unease about age in American politics. Nearly four out of five respondents, 79 percent, agreed that elected officials in Washington are too old to effectively represent most Americans. The concern appears bipartisan. The average age in the U.S. Senate is about 64, while members of the House average 58.
Democratic voters, for their part, expressed similar reservations about leaders within their own ranks. Fifty-eight percent said Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, who is 75, is too old to continue serving in government.
Age was a central issue during Biden’s presidency as well. Republicans repeatedly questioned his mental fitness, particularly as he approached his early 80s. Biden stepped away from his re-election bid in 2024 at age 82, at the time older than any president in U.S. history. Trump is now poised to surpass that milestone; he will turn 80 in June.
The February poll also showed a shift in perceptions of Trump’s mental acuity. Only 45 percent of respondents described him as “mentally sharp and able to deal with challenges,” down from 54 percent in a Reuters/Ipsos survey conducted in September 2023. Among Republicans, however, confidence remained strong. Eighty-one percent said they view the president as mentally sharp, a figure largely unchanged from the earlier poll.
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Taken together, the numbers reveal a country wrestling with questions not only about one leader’s temperament, but about the age and stamina of those who hold power in Washington.
