The not-so-best or brightest

Posted By Stephen M. Walt Thursday, November 10, 2011 - 6:25 PM

According to the Census Bureau, about 53 percent of Americans are over the age of 35 and thus eligible to be President. Taking into account the roughly 11.3 million naturalized citizens (who are barred from the presidency by the Constitution) that's easily more than 150 million people.

According to Rasmussen Reports, about 34 percent of Americans identify themselves as Republicans. A quick back-of-the-envelope calculation (150 million x .34) yields roughly 51 million GOPers who are legally eligible to serve as President.

My question is: given that the GOP has (in theory) a pool of 51 million people from which to pick, is this the best they can do?

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