Most Americans say McConnell’s health and age 'severely limit' his job capability: Poll

Most Americans say that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s health and age "severely limit" his ability to do his job, according to a new poll that comes as the 81-year-old Kentucky Republican faces an increasing number of questions about his health.

Nearly 6 in 10 people surveyed, 59%, said McConnell is severely limited by his health and age, according to an Economist/YouGov poll released Wednesday.

Republicans are slightly more likely than Democrats at 61% to 58% to say McConnell’s age and health severely affects his job performance.

In the latest poll, conducted Sept. 2-5, the percentage of people who said McConnell's health and age "severely limit" his ability to do his job more than doubled from when the question was first asked in June, when just 28% of people expressed such a view.

The median age of the Senate is 65.3 years, according to Pew Research in January, and Americans are increasingly expressing concerns about how senators' health and ages may be impacting their job performance.

For example, in June, 50% of Economist/YouGov respondents said California Democrat Sen. Dianne Feinstein, 90, was "severely" limited by her age and health, while 56% said the same earlier this month. For 81-year-old Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, 26% of respondents expressed concerns about his job performance due to his age and health in June, while 35% expressed the same views in September.

Additionally, more than 70% of Americans said there should be a maximum age for someone to serve as president or in Congress, with the median maximum age given as 70. 

McConnell vowed Wednesday to remain Senate Republican leader even as repeated public freeze-ups have sparked calls to resign.

The latest Economist/YouGov poll was conducted with 1,500 U.S. adult citizens and has a 3% margin of error.

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