WASHINGTON, Feb 24 (Reuters) – Six in ten Americans, including a significant share of Republicans, think President Donald Trump has become erratic as he ages, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.
The six-day survey concluded on Monday, a day before the 79-year-old president delivers his annual State of the Union address to Congress after a month of angry rebukes of lawmakers and judges.
Overall, 61% of those surveyed said they would describe Trump as having “become erratic with age.” About 89% of Democrats, 30% of Republicans and 64% of independents described it that way. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
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Trump’s overall popularity has changed little in recent months. About 40% of respondents in the latest poll approved of Trump’s performance as president, an increase of two percentage points from earlier this month. Although he began his term with a considerably higher rating of 47%, his approval rating has remained within a point or two of its current level since April.
Most Americans think the country’s political leadership is generally too old.
About 79% of respondents agreed with the statement that “elected politicians in Washington, D.C., are too old to represent the majority of Americans.” The average age in the US Senate is about 64 years old, and in the US House of Representatives it is 58 years old.
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Democratic respondents were slightly more likely to call for younger politicians, with 58% saying Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, 75, is too old to work in government.
Trump returned to office in January 2025, aged 78, becoming the oldest inaugurated president in history. Since then, he has unveiled new policies and proposals at a breakneck pace, ordering sweeping tariffs on imports from dozens of countries and sending masked federal agents across the country to crack down on unauthorized immigration.
He often strikes an angry tone in his public statements, including last week when he said he was “absolutely embarrassed” that the conservative-leaning U.S. Supreme Court had ruled many of his tariffs illegal. Trump went on to reinstate a series of new tariffs, arguing he could do so under different legal authority. In November, he lashed out at Democratic lawmakers who urged members of the U.S. military to refuse any illegal orders, calling them traitors who could face execution.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll, conducted online, interviewed 4,638 US adults across the country and had a margin of error of two percentage points.
