Americans are fighting culture wars, with their leadership stuck in the 1940s

By: Team India Tracker

A detailed analysis of the past six elections in the US since the 2000 shows that except Barack Obama - US President from 2008-2016 (Democrat) - all of the other Presidential candidates were born before the year 1950.

The first round of debates of the US Presidential candidates has raised questions on the tenacity of Joe Biden’s plans to stick to the race of elections nearing by the end of this year. The New York Times Columnist - Thomas Friedman has written why Biden should quit. Various social media posts have made a meme on Biden’s expressions during the debate.

One of the reasons why there is so much furore about the choice of the Presidential candidates in the USA is their old age. According to the CIA’s World Factbook, the median American age is about 38.9 years - while the age of both their presidential candidates - Joe Biden and Donald Trump is 82 and 78 respectively.

A detailed analysis of the past six elections in the US since the 2000 shows that except Barack Obama - US President from 2008-2016 (Democrat) - all of the other Presidential candidates were born before the year 1950.

That wasn’t a big problem when the Republican candidate George Bush was elected in the year 2000 - because at that time he was 52 - about twenty years older than the median American age at that time - 32. However, the 82 year old Joe Biden - is more than twice the age of an American - 38.8 years and so is the Republican candidate - Donald Trump.

To put it in perspective, the team at IndiaTracker also investigated the age gaps (gap between median age of a country and its top leader) in all G7 countries and it turns out that the US age gap with its top leader is the widest.

While the average American is 43 years younger than its President Joe Biden, the age gap in Germany nearly halves to about 19 years. An average German ages 47 years and its leader Olaf Schulz is aged 66.

In Japan, the world’s fastest ageing country - the gap is even narrower. An average Japanese person is 50 years old, while their Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is 66.

Canada narrows even more - where 52 years old Justin Trudeau is just 9 years older than an average Canadian (43). Similarly, 46 years old Emanuel Macron is only three years older than an average French person (44) and at 44 UK’s PM Rishi Sunak is also 3 years older than an average UK person (41).

Italy’s Prime Minister Girogia Meloni is the only exception here - he is aged 47, but the Median age in Italy is 48 years - so about a year younger than an average Italian.