What if you could pick a president to order?
Let’s stipulate at the start that you can’t, that the choice in the 2024 election will be among actual human beings, not some ideal drawn in the abstract.
That said, Americans in the USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll did express preferences about the characteristics they found appealing in a president and the ones they said didn’t matter. In all that may be guideposts and red flags for the real people who will run or are thinking about it.
David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk Political Research Center, said the job posting could go something like this: “Wanted – a 51-to-65-year-old governor with business experience and willing to compromise to get things done. Military experience a bonus.”
“Unfortunately, the presidential election of 2024 currently has no declared ideal candidates,” he said, and neither President Joe Biden nor former president Donald Trump is a neat match to the description. In the poll, he notes, “Over 6 in 10 say they don’t want Trump or Biden to run in 2024.”
The survey of 1,000 registered voters, taken by landline and cellphone Dec. 7-11, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
How old should the president be?
The sweet spot is later middle age, between 51 and 65 years old, the age group chosen by 50% of those surveyed. An additional 25% picked earlier middle age, 35 to 50 years old.
Those findings could be cautionary for Trump, who last month announced another presidential bid….
