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Twenty-three percent of Americans say that John McCain at 72 would be a less effective president because of his age, according to a USA Today/Gallup survey conducted June 15-19. Sixty-five percent said it would make no difference and 11 percent believed it would make him more effective. The question Gallup chose to ask about Obama was whether his race would make him more or less effective, and 82 percent said it would make no difference, 9 percent said it would make him more effective and 8 percent said it would make him less effective.

But let's stay with the age question for a moment, and look at a different question about Obama: how many Americans think the first-term Senator is too inexperienced to be President? Rasmussen Reports has been asked the age and experience question about McCain and Obama respectively in its state general election match-ups. In 16 Rasmussen polls that we could find with these questions, between 20 percent and 29 percent of voters thought McCain was too old in 11 states, and 30 percent to 39 percent thought the same thing in five states, with 39 percent of New Yorkers believing that.

As for Obama and experience, the number of voters in most states who thought he was too inexperienced ranged from 42 percent to 56 percent, with Obama faring the best in Maine, New York and California where the number of voters deeming him too inexperienced was in the high-30s.