In new poll, Americans voice broad bipartisan support for age caps in Congress

Birds fly by as the sun rises behind the U.S. Capitol on March 18, 2026. Allison Robbert/AP hide caption toggle caption Allison Robbert/AP There are divides on nearly every issue in American politics today. But many voters agree on one topic: Congress is too old. An overwhelming majority of Americans — 8 in 10 — are in favor of setting age caps as well as term limits for members of Congress, according to the latest NPR/PBS News/Marist poll . While both ideas are hypothetical — neither is being seriously considered by Congress — support for each cuts across many backgrounds and party lines. The poll found that 78% of Democrats support both age caps and term limits. Eighty-three percent of Republicans backed maximum age limits, and nearly 9 in 10 supported term limits. The findings come as many Americans have begun to demand that longtime lawmakers pass the torch to a new generation of leaders who they see as more representative of an electorate increasingly dominated by younger voters . "I think it makes some sense that [we] do have older office holders, but that has some clear disadvantages," said Jean Twenge, a professor of psychology at San Diego State University who studies generational differences. "People can be in office longer, but should they?" she asked, explaining that as life expectancy has increased in recent decades, Americans are retiring later. …