Ditch Mitch?: After Recent Health Scares, Majority Of Americans Believe McConnell Is Too Old To Serve

The tides keep turning away from aging Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) as new polls show that the majority of Americans are questioning his ability to properly perform his job at his current ripe age of 81 years old. 

A survey was conducted from July 29th to August 1st by YouGov for The Economist where it was discovered that 51 percent of adults believe that McConnell's age and health are “severely” limiting his ability to properly serve his position. Another 17 percent found that his age and health have at least a “little” negative effect on his job performance, stacking the numbers against him further.

In contrast, only six percent of respondents believed that the factors had “no effect at all” on his ability to perform as Senate Minority Leader with a final 17 percent being unsure of where they stand. 

McConnell is seeing similar polling to Biden, with the same survey finding that 54 percent of Americans believe that the president's age and health is a limiting factor on his ability to serve as Commander in Chief, only three percent above McConnell. Biden still is overall worse, with 28 percent finding that the factors have at least a “little” effect on the job, notably more than Mitch's 17 percent in that category. 

Bizarrely enough, when looking at political affiliations, Republicans more than any other group believe that McConnell's age and health are “severely” affecting his performance, with an even 50 percent saying so. In comparison, only 48 percent of Democrats and 46 percent of Independents selected the same choice. 

The survey comes after the longtime Republican seemed to have a health scare while speaking to reporters at Capitol Hill, suddenly freezing out of nowhere, per the DC Enquirer. His fellow colleagues quickly escorted him away from the press, seemingly also confused by the sudden and abrupt stop in his press address. McConnell returned shortly after, claiming that he was “fine.”

Many political figures have begun questioning McConnell's cognitive ability and whether or not he can continue serving in his highly important position. The Kentucky senator recently spoke at an event in his home state where he was heckled the entire time by chants of “retire” and “ditch Mitch,” seemingly stemming from the aforementioned freeze, per the DC Enquirer. 

Age is becoming a more prominent question when considering a politician's ability to serve. When geezers like Sen. Diana Feinstein (D-CA) and McConnell have such positions of power over the country but struggle to properly perform day-to-day tasks, questions arise about the system that allowed them to get there.