Voters Over 50 Favor Democrats (WSJ/NBC Poll)

[sabra]

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB116131431625698660-o47OrBp4vzcPosGxbL4_Nj8AMsM_20061119.html?mod=tff_main_tff_top

Voters Over 50 Favor Democrats

OLDER VOTERS FLOCK to Democrats as midterm elections approach.

Voters over 50, traditionally more likely to show up on Election Day than younger counterparts, favor Democrats for control of Congress by 20 percentage points in new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll. As Republicans brace for renewed Democratic campaign attacks on Social Security, older voters favor Bush's adversaries on the issue by more than 30 percentage points.

The poll represents "a vote of no confidence" in the Republican Party, says Democratic pollster Peter Hart, who conducts the Journal/NBC survey with Republican counterpart Bill McInturff. The survey of 1,006 registered voters, conducted Oct. 13-16, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

Voters 65 and over give Republicans a solid edge on handling terrorism, but rate Iraq and Social Security more important to their voting decisions.

[sam sarrha]

1. they have been here and see this Fascist crap before and what it caused

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

25. Then what happened in '04 when it was just as abundantly clear?

[MissMillie]

2. this is good news

Seniors vote in large numbers.

[Le Taz Hot]

5. Seniors????

Gaaaaaakkk!!! <cough cough)

LTH<--51

[EST]

8. Heheh!

I resemble that...etc, etc-

[MissMillie]

10. well, I don't know of any seniors under 50... do you?

I didn't mean to imply that everyone over 50 is a senior, but I can with most assurances say that every senior is over 50.

[shanti]

15. i know, huh?

:( "older voter"....that's a kick in the gut. i'll be 51 next month....

[0007]

20. Happy Birthday in advance

I'm 73 today. And was informed by medicare that they would not pay for my PET scan that I had last week at MD Anderson.

[spooky3]

21. Why aren't 50 year olds grouped with 35 year olds?

It's a pet peeve of mine that people around 50 are treated in many articles like this as if they are basically similar to people 65, 70, and older in lifestyle, opinions, etc. But 50 year olds are as close to 35 year olds in age as they are to 65 year olds, yet you rarely if every see them grouped (except in TV ratings sometimes, e.g., 35-54 year olds.) Why is that one grouping makes sense to these pollsters and journalists, but the other grouping does not? People who are 50 - 60 are rarely retired these days; they are working as hard as ever to stay competitive at careers, pay for houses, etc.

[dwahzon]

22. yes, exactly

the retirement stuff doesn't seem at all close at the moment.

[Raine]

27. yeah really

and the cut-off is 49 in so many of these polls. One day you're 49 and the next you're 50 and you don't buy anything anymore or watch TV and you wear Depends etc. :sarcasm:

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

35. It's an old model based on families and household size

It assumes that by 50 people have grown or nearly-grown children, so their needs and interests change. It doesn't take into account the trend toward starting families later. And it doesn't figure in the large number of parents who are raising their own grandchildren.

[spooky3]

36. and the fact that married households are now in the minority

and the biggest factor for some of these people--age-ism. Some of these observers consider everyone over the age of 30 or 40 as essentially invisible, just as some people consider women, blacks or other minorities as one big category of people to lump together and ignore. The point is that to the extent people's ages make any difference at all, 50 year olds have more in common with 35 year olds than they do with people 66 and over.

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

38. ok

Wasn't arguing, just offering an explanation.

[Raine]

42. Interesting

I can see how this accounts for some of it but as you said it's certainly an "OLD" model and outdated.

[PegDAC]

41. Seniors???

I'm 53 - a Boomer, fer cryin' out loud!

:hippie:

[Raine]

43. I'm a boomer too

a couple years older than you and it really SUCKS to be stuck in a category like I'm 90 years old! x(

[npincus]

3. The Republican Medicare Plan SUCKS...

that was a ticking timebomb for the repukes....

[jefferson_dem]

4. This statement is as telling as anything --

"Republicans do best, trailing by five percentage points in race for Congress, among those ages 35-49."

LOL! The best the Repukes do in this poll is trail by *only* five points!

[EST]

6. While the notion that those over 50 favor dems is heartening,

given that voters in this group are more likely to actually vote, some of this smells like b.s.

Maybe I'm misreading it, but this does not fit-"As Republicans brace for renewed Democratic campaign attacks on Social Security, older voters favor"...

When did dems ever attack SS?

[Tanuki]

11. I'm pretty sure what they mean

instead of "As Republicans brace for renewed Democratic campaign attacks on Social Security" is "As Republicans brace for renewed Democratic campaign ADS ATTACKING THEM on THE SUBJECT OF Social Security"

[EST]

12. Thank you.

Lying perverts are difficult for me to understand.

[Demit]

7. strange phrasing—"Democratic campaign attacks on Social Security"

Good lord, they must stay up at night creating new ways to obfuscate what the issues are.

[Tanuki]

9. I had the same reaction

I had to read that sentence twice to figure it out.

[grytpype]

13. Wow! Wow! Wow!!!!

That is a major shift in our favor. And those seniors vote!

[DesertRat]

14. This isn't surprising to me

Both of my parents are 75 years old and are diehard Democrats. My mother always was, but my father used to be a Republican. He saw the light during the Reagan years. They tell me that ALL of their friends are against Bush. They all do vote, mostly by mail.

[flaminbats]

17. I know what you mean..

most of the people who have revived our local party are over 50. But it amazes me the amount of pure energy they have.

My Grandfather is also a die-hard Republican, but this year he's splitting his ticket and voting for several Democrats! Even more amazingly, he attended our last local party meeting. but he still claims that he's a loyal Republican. :eyes:

[cascadiance]

16. I'm getting close to 50, but the hippie generation isn't going to forget..

... the times we had growing up in the 60's and how necessary it is to bring back sanity to our government once again! The newer generation needs to be waking up from it's vegging out on playstations, ipods, and other distracting forms of entertainment, etc...

[Xenotime]

18. If we get them to the polls...we will win.

[llmart]

19. Well, I know this over 50 gal......

has already voted and it was a straight Dem ticket!

[Odin2005]

23. So are voters under 30.

It's the people in between 50 and 30 (the later Baby Boomers eary to middle Gen-Xers) who love the Pukes.

[SoyCat]

26. I'm 35 and it's disgusting how so many of my contemporaries who --

previously claimed to be liberals have become full-on right wingers. I hate my own age cohort for that very reason.

[depakid]

28. Reagan babies

who grew into adulthood listening to far right propaganda on just about EVERY radio & television station.

[SoyCat]

29. Not exactly. These were people who voted for Dems. and talked the

liberal talk for years and then suddenly believed Newt and Rush, etc. It was shocking to see such amazing transformations. It's like talk radio took over their minds.

[depakid]

30. Understood

I lived it and watched it too.

Kinda cult like in the transformations.

It's like critical thinking became anathema.

[SoyCat]

31. "Kinda cult like in the transformations." You nailed it. Totally.

[NYC]

40. Are you able to explain that?

I really don't understand it. You probably have a better understanding than I do, so please try to explain it to me.

Thanks in advance. :hi:

[SoyCat]

44. Imagine watching your most liberal friend suddenly start spouting

rw talking points as though they are the most obvious ideas around and then imagine finding out that he has started listening to rw radio and *not* just to find out what the other side is thinking. That's how it starts. It just progresses until he argues that he was never the same as you and never believed that "liberal crap" and that you must have a faulty memory because he didn't vote for Clinton, etc. It is horrifying to watch because it is like the person has joined a cult and is in bad need of deprogramming.

[NYC]

46. Thanks for your explanation.

Very strange.

[On the Road]

24. Us Freaks are Gettin' Old

that Republican-Over-65 link may be weakening. Hopefully by a lot.

[fasttense]

32. This is a very interesting discussion

I've got three things about the discussion.

1. I'm 49 (I had to do the math to make sure I was still 49, I wasn't sure.) The breakout of 50 and over versus the 35 to 49 group is based on previous age and health indicators that are not relevant today. When my grandparents turned 50 they were elderly. They retired, had difficulty doing physical activity and began having serious medical problems. Today, this no longer happens at such a young age but the pollsters haven't caught up with reality. My parents didn't slow down until their 60s. I figure I wont slow down until I'm 70. The age classification thing is based on old data and needs to be looked at again.

2. I think the over 50 are voting against repukes because of the SS and Medicare destruction plans the repukes are pushing. Today's over 50 crowd know that privatization will destroy SS and that Medicare prescription crap is a nothing but a sell off of the American drug consumers to the drug corporations. They remember when Raygun doubled our SS taxes and told us it was to fix SS. Instead we Boomers ended up paying for our parents retirement while the repukes stole our SS trust fund for our retirement. They are angry and they vote.

3. The 35 to 49 crowd has been seriously listening to Fox, and "Christian" radio because they had no other choice. What did we liberals have to watch or listen to in 1998? I guess listening to public radio wasn't so bad but it certainly wasn't liberal. CNN was ok but it sure as hell didn't push the liberal agenda. I became addicted to political issues in 2000 and I ended up listening to Rush Limpball, Dr. Laura and David Ramsey on "Christian" radio because I couldn't get anything liberal. Thank God for Air America.

[spooky3]

37. interesting points; here are some other thoughts

For many people in their late 40s and early 50s, retirement and social security are relevant in their minds to the extent that they are affecting current savings plans, but they can't even consider retiring for many years, maybe 20 years. Almost no one except Republicans can afford to retire at 55 any more, and a few are forced due to downsizing or health issues to retire young. So they have completely different lifestyles from people who are retired or only a year or two away from it. What people in this category are likely to be thinking about are job-related and economic concerns, as well as societal concerns (such as Iraq, corruption in govt.) that everyone else has. Middle-aged people, like younger people are worrying about whether they can keep up with changes at work; are they going to be eased out in favor of younger employees--and unlike younger people they will find it harder to get a job given employers' preferences for younger workers. They are wondering, like others, can I afford a new house that meets my needs more than the small or outdated one my family and/or I have been living in for a long time? Workers this age are not getting the big pay jumps they got when younger, but property taxes, health care, children's college tuition, and other expenses are rising faster than inflation. It's hard to save under those conditions. And what if family members need financial help due to divorce or health issues?

[roseBudd]

33. Voters over 50 remember life before Reagan...

It's the young Republicans whose parents voted for Reagan who only remember the Cadillac driving Welfare Queen, not Iran Contra

[stepnw1f]

34. People Under 25 do as well

especially here in New England. Kids can't stand Bush and his republicans.

[riona]

39. This over 50 gal

thought she would get more conservative with age. Surprise. She went left and more left and more left...

[burrowowl]

45. I'm going to be 60 a few days after 11/07

When I learned the word anarchy at the age of 10, I said if everyone is responsible, we don't need no archy.
I am a socialist but voting for Democrats.
Never ran into an anti-war demo I couldn't resist!
What saddens me is that I am keeping on a marching to protest war and etc.

[gorbal]

47. Answer to Riddle-Aging boomers are taking over...

Taking over the "most likely to vote" sect of the electorate anyway...and they are still hippies at heart no matter how much they deny it. Take a look at over 50 people you know in there teen years and you'll get the idea. They all lived in "Magic Cookiee Land" back then and now it's all coming back:)

[Imagevision]

48. When it come to voting out GOP, there is NO age barrier...!