Political scientist Lee Miringoff is a big baseball fan.
Speaking from Dutchess County, New York, Miringoff mentions a friend who buys seats to watch the Yankees up close. When the pair attend games, they sit mere feet from the dugout, watching the players prep for their at-bats and hustle to and from the field.
“It’s a wonderful place to see the game, except when you realise how young they all are,” he quipped.
He lets loose a jovial chuckle when thinking about Yankee pitcher Tommy John.
“He was in his 40s when he retired, and he was the oldest pitcher on the team,” said Miringoff, who is 73 and currently the longest-tenured employee at Marist College. “Now, how do you think Tommy John makes me feel?!”
Age is top of mind for Miringoff, who heads the college’s Institute for Public Opinion.
After all, he believes it played an outsized role in the 2024 United States presidential election. And that’s largely the result of one prominent figure: outgoing President Joe Biden.
Biden turned 82 last Wednesday, breaking his own record as the oldest sitting president in US history. When he entered the White House at age 78, Biden had already surpassed the previous title holder, the late Ronald Reagan, who exited office at 77 years old.
As Biden prepares to leave the White House in January after a single term as president, experts say part of his legacy will be in re-shaping how age is perceived in US politics.
“Ageism is a symptom of a much bigger malaise,” said Gemma Carney, a social policy and ageing researcher at Queen’s University in Belfast. “And we’re seeing a seismic shift in who we want to lead us.”