People Turn More Liberal With Age

[roguevalley]

http://www.livescience.com/health/080310-liberal-seniors.html


he stereotype of a cranky old man, set in his ways, getting more conservative by the day, is an enduring one. But new research has debunked the myth that people become more conservative as they age.

By comparing surveys of various age groups taken over a span of more than 30 years, sociologists found that in general, Americans' opinions veer toward the liberal as they grow older.

"All the evidence we have found refutes the idea that as people age their attitudes become more conservative or more rigid," said Nicholas Danigelis, a sociologist at the University of Vermont. "It's just not true. More people are changing in a liberal direction than in a conservative direction."

snip

People might find an average 60-year-old to be more conservative than an average 30-year-old, Danigelis said, but beware of extrapolating a trend. The older person, for example, might have started off even more conservative than he or she is now.

Danigelis also blamed the misconception on pervasive negative attitudes toward the elderly in our country, and stereotypes that depict seniors as rigid, ornery and set in their ways.

"If you look at any greeting cards about getting older you’ve got a wonderful lecture about age stereotypes," he said. "My colleague continues to cut out cartoons about getting old and trying to teach old dogs new tricks."

[OffWithTheirHeads]

1. well, all I can tell ya is that this 16 year old Hippie

Is now 57 and feels the same way.

[ScreamingMeemie]

2. My husband was a Libertarian when I met him.

It may have taken 15 years together, but he became a diehard Dem, often spending more money and time than I on the fight. His proudest act, a few weeks before.... was getting a couple of single issue Christians to turn their backs on Bush. I think with maturity, on the part of typical, non filthy rich or deluded conservatives, comes moderation and, in some, even liberalism.

[Stinky The Clown]

3. I'll cop to being a cranky old man .........

...... but the part about growing increasingly liberal is also true. I worry about that. How far left can I go in the time I have left?

[Canuckistanian]

4. Kind of makes a mockery of Churchill's famous quote

"If you're not a liberal when you're 25, you have no heart. If you're not a conservative by the time you're 35, you have no brain."

Which, as I have found out, is actually a misquote.

Churchill never said these words.

According to research by Mark T. Shirey, citing Nice Guys Finish Seventh: False Phrases, Spurious Sayings, and Familiar Misquotations by Ralph Keyes, 1992, this quote was first uttered by mid-nineteenth century historian and statesman François Guizot when he observed, Not to be a republican at 20 is proof of want of heart; to be one at 30 is proof of want of head. This quote has been attributed variously to George Bernard Shaw, Benjamin Disraeli, Otto von Bismarck, and others.

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Churchill

[Lydia Leftcoast]

5. Older people have more life experience

I can remember that things weren't always this way. That's enough to make anyone a leftist.

[ginnyinWI]

6. I got more liberal

Well I was just a free spirit as a teen. But in my 20s and 30s was fairly conservative. In my 40s I got more liberal and started voting Dem. Now I'm in my 50s an am active in Dem politics. So yeah.

[PDJane]

7. Ah, yes.

Well, women tend to grow more radical as they age....my 82 year old mother is a perfect example of that trend. It's been interesting. She started out as a die-hard conservative, and got more and more liberal as she aged. She has also gotten more aware of the news since she retired (at 73). It's been quite a trip.

[tachyon]

8. I voted for Barry Goldwater as a young, callow and delusional turd.

The insanity wasn't permanent, thankfully!