Explain Something - If Seniors Love Medicare/Social Security, Why Do They Vote Republican So Much?

[TomCADem]

I mean Republicans tried to privitize social security in 2006 by turning it into a massive 401(k). Then, the House GOP and many Senate GOP'ers vote to turn Medicare into a voucher program. Compared to these proposals, changing the benefit formulas for Medicare or the eligibity age for Social Security sounds like socialism. Yet, on this Board, we are told that if Democrats dare touch social security or Medicare, they will lose the senior vote. So, how is it that Republicans do so well among seniors if they are repeatedly trying to abolish Social Security or Medicare?

If it is all about taking care of your base, why is it that Republicans can essentially declare war on their base without any negative repercussion? Heck, the more Republicans attack programs that support the elderly, the more the elderly support Republicans. Perhaps this is why the GOP House thinks that they can push default with impunity. Because, the more they try to slash such programs, the more votes they get among those who should care the most, the elderly. It's mind boggling.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/147287/Americans-Divided-Ryan-Obama-Deficit-Plans.aspx?version=print

<>

Finally, I know some folks will say that they have been fooled, but really? I mean who does not know that Republicans are out to slash taxes and social programs? I mean are you really surprised that the Tea Party is doing what it is doing?

[Lifelong Protester]

1. and I sure hope those angry folks from last summer's town halls

the ones who said "Don't touch my Medicare" (because they were under some delusion that it isn't run by the government)are calling their tea bagging douches to give THEM a piece of their minds.

[Amonester]

14. (may-be) too late now, they R being thrown under the (Jee)bus.

They've been used. All they've got left with now is the R plan: "If you get sick, die quickly."

[johnd83]

2. Because most Americans aren't that bright

A sad answer but that is all I can come up with.

[Joe the Revelator]

3. Because they love it for themselves...

Not other, younger, poorer people.

[RegieRocker]

28. As long as they have it, good luck to the youngins.

[mckara]

4. Stockholm Syndrome

[MinimunMan]

5. The older your get the more distrustful you are of others.

[arbusto_baboso]

49. And the more easily manipulated by fear, too.

[Ruby the Liberal]

6. Wedge issues. These folks have been voting against their own economic interests since the 1980s

Thanks to the Moral Majority and their abortion/gay boogie men.

I have elderlies in my family that are terrified about what is about to go down, but they would never consider voting against the ones that hold their moral values. No matter how much I try and try and try to tell them that it is all lip service.

[FLAprogressive]

7. Because they don't know what the GOP wants to do.

[TomCADem]

10. Seriously? We Don't Know What The Republicans Are Going To Do?

The Republicans campaign on small government and cutting spending and taxes. In 2006, they tried to privitize social security. This year, they tried to turn Medicare into a voucher program. I mean what planet do you have to live on not to guess that Republicans were going to try to pull this. Heck, what about under Bill Clinton when they failed to pass a budget, and New Gingrich tried to kill Medicare back in 1995.

http://www.nytimes.com/1996/07/20/us/politics-gingrich-on-medicare.html

Republicans want to completely kill, not just tweak or cut, Medicare and Social Security is not exactly a secret. But, seniors still love the GOP.

[nadinbrzezinski]

22. Think about it WHEN DO THEY DO THIS?

Ah yes, in between electoral cycles.

Most Americans pay attention to the elections six weeks out... when we are lucky. So they did that AFTER the election in 2006... when most of the voters were NOT paying attention.

[AndyTiedye]

8. Senility

[Justitia]

9. That is a question for the ages - it's exasperating! I've tried to make it obvious to the seniors

in my family who vote (R) straight ticket, over & over.

They want all the policies of a Democratic government, yet keep voting for these assholes.

It drives me insane.

I think it's a combination of everything that is has been posted above, and honestly, unfortunately, more than a little bit of generational bigotry.

[Maru Kitteh]

35. That's not a frustration exclusive to the elder among us, my SIL is a poor single mom of a disabled

little girl. She's angry that she doesn't qualify for food stamps and financial assistance because she makes too much money giving haircuts at a retirement home to qualify. She's watched as this agency and that program is cut back or eliminated that she used to rely on to help with her little girl's therapy. She's terrified her daughter's SSI and medicare will be cut back or even worse. It wouldn't take very long for her family to be thrown literally onto the streets.

So who was her Facebook post about? Obama. :banghead:

[Justitia]

47. Wow - that is some serious cognitive dissonance!

I've seen some posts from people who have collected food stamps, WIC and disability, but are SUPER pissed off that so many other "undeserving" people also get those benefits.

Sounds like a good majority of people are thick as bricks and lost causes.

[Kablooie]

11. They always assume the GOP doesn't mean THEM. Just younger people.

[Amonester]

12. Jeebus is your savior. Angels exists and they can talk to you.

Stuff like dat.

[Zoigal]

13. This OLD senior has NEVER voted for a Republican and never will.

Unfortunately, many do as well as many other folks who vote
against their own interests. My theory is that some are
one issue voters. Many my age are uneducated, uninformed, and
still living in the "old days".....z

[RebelOne]

31. Same here. I'm 72 and have voted Democratic my entire life, n/t

[woo me with science]

15. Because until now they were considered the "third rail" of politics.

It took a Democratic President to put them on the chopping block and make them fair game.

...and Democrats will reap the outrage and blame as a result.

Washington and the banks are delighted that the wall has come down. We will now be defending ourselves against assaults on the most vulnerable among us for a very, very long time.

[TomCADem]

38. Yet, Republicans Can Touch The Rail With Impunity

According to your logic, seniors should have abandoned the GOP. Yet, more seniors supported the Ryan budget plan that turned Medicare into a voucher plan than the Democrat alternative.

[woo me with science]

39. No, that is flatly untrue.

Multiple polls have shown that the majority of seniors oppose the Ryan plan. This is not unexpected, since the vast majority of all Americans oppose significant structural changes to Medicare. I believe there was a single poll, back in April, that suggested approximately equal numbers of seniors opposed and supported the plan. That poll came on the heels of a media blitz by the Republicans, in which they were running around lying that the plan would "save" Medicare, while the Democrats favored (paraphrasing), "doing nothing, which will bankrupt Medicare."

Details of the plan became more widely known, including the CBO's report that the plan would increase by approximately $6000 per year seniors' out-of-pocket medical costs. Since then, there have been MULTIPLE polls showing that seniors, like other Americans, do NOT support the plan:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/06/paul-ryan-medicare-plan_n_872008.html

Medicare Poll: Paul Ryan Plan Unpopular With Seniors
Posted: 06/ 6/11 06:04 PM ET

A new survey released Monday by the Pew Research Center finds slightly more Americans oppose than favor the budget and Medicare plan advanced by the Republicans and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and finds that opposition is especially high among seniors and those following the issue most closely.

According to the survey, 36 percent of American adults favor the plan and 41 percent are opposed. That includes a larger percentage of respondents who strongly oppose the plan (30 percent) than strongly favor it (22 percent).

Other recent national polls have shown even greater opposition to the Ryan plan. These surveys asked very different questions but, as shown in the table below, found roughly the same relatively low level of support -- varying between 34 and 36 percent -- for Ryan's proposal to transform Medicare into a voucher system.
....

The Pew Research survey shows that the greatest opposition comes from older respondents. A majority (51 percent) of Americans age 50 and over oppose Ryan's plan, and only 29 percent favor it. Those age 50 and older also seem to be the most engaged in the debate -- 27 percent of Americans between ages 50 and 64, and 30 percent of those over age 65, said they had heard "a lot" about the plan, compared to 20 percent of respondents as a whole.


(more at link)

[JVS]

16. Until fairly recently, old people voted for Democrats. But the Roosevelt Dems died off and the...

3rd way democrats offered the next crop nothing.

[Indykatie]

17. Republicans Offer Seniors Nothing and Now Threaten to Dismantle SS and Medicare

and they STILL vote overwhelmingly R and say they support republicans more than democrats. It defies logic.

[JVS]

18. 2 points. Republicans offer seniors a hell of a lot on social issues because both are old fashioned

Also, all dicking around with social security is prefaced by "If you're 55 or older, the changes won't effect you" whether said dicking around comes from democrats or republicans.

So I'm not really seeing how 65+ has a direct reason to fear them.

[Bluebear]

20. And now, DemocratsThreaten to Dismantle SS and Medicare

[Davis_X_Machina]

19. 2008 was the first time voters 60 and over...

...did not vote for the winning Presidential candidate. So they voted for Nixon -- twice. Reagan, twice, Bushes three times, etc...

The Presidential voting behavior of 60+ voters doesn't differ markedly -- with this unusual exception -- from the country at large.

Google allows a preview of the book-length version of the study. See especially p. 205

I don't have congressional information ready to hand.

[eridani]

21. Simple. The Repukes successfully pose as DEFENDERS of Social Security and Medicare

Worked great for them in 2010, especially as the Dems refused to defend the government Medicare as superior to Medicare Advantage, which HCR is removing the subsidies from.

[daa]

23. True and Obama did cut Medicare $500 Billion nt

[librechik]

51. BINGO!!

lying is like the water these fish swim in

[RagAss]

24. The man in the WH is Black.

[lapislzi]

25. I don't think even they thought the GOP would go this far

It was simply inconceivable. But, we know that that word does not mean what we think it means.

And, never underestimate the power of wedge issues.

[Worried senior]

27. This Senior

doesn't vote republican. Not all of us are stupid.

[jtown1123]

26. Because GOP Lies. They lie and say Dems are cutting these programs.

[dmosh42]

29. I'm one of those seniors(approaching 70), and retired to Florida..

for a few years, and was really surprised about how many are just 'dumb bastards', and maybe the booze stops the logic part of the brain. I met some who had retired from Wall St where they were involved in brokerage, but could hardly do simple math any more. I couldn't believe how many couldn't see through the Bush smokestream on Iraq, and were wanting all those other people's kids sent there for no reason. And many, like myself had lived through the Vietnam bullshit. But there are many who still seek truth, justice and the American way, like myself and Bernie Sanders!

[Recursion]

30. Because they dislike homosexuals and African Americans more than they like income security (nt)

[CanonRay]

32. Cuz they love Baby Jeebus more?

[amborin]

33. "New Dem/DLC" Bill Clinton also tried to cut Soc Sec; his Erskine Bowles chosen by Obama for the Cat

food commission

[LWolf]

34. My 72 yo mom does not vote Republican.

Take away the broad brush, and I think you'll find that seniors, like so many other people, tend to stick with the team they were hard-wired for in their more flexible youth.

[Stinky The Clown]

36. Reagan

Reagan "Democrats"

[Fire1]

37. Because those seniors don't really NEED the big 3. n/t

[Cannikin]

44. Abortion! Homosexuals!! ...and anything else the Republicans can do to make them think we are evil.

and "out to destroy the country" which never fails to crack me up.

[snooper2]

40. Because a large chunk of them are old racists that want to go back to the 50's

[CTyankee]

41. Because they don't think it will happen.

That to me is the only logical reason I can think of...

[southernyankeebelle]

42. Not all seniors are stupid. I would never ever vote for a republican ever.

[Waiting For Everyman]

43. It's the same with veterans.

[yella_dawg]

45. Simple

For thirty years, we have been conditioned to shift into an emotional state when encountering that which must be considered intellectually. From a brain standpoint, the two are mutually exclusive. (We've had an "irrational" switch installed.) So Biscuit Boy, Beck, Fox, even CNN, are paid megabucks to install emotional triggers that fire every time certain keywords come up. The Democrats might save Social Security, but only at the cost of millions of "murdered children". They may support Medicare, but their Stormtroopers will forcibly turn your grandkids to the gay.


Watch the media with an eye for subtle insinuations. I caught Andersen Cooper in a masterpiece a month or so ago. The "right-wing" extremists are involved in such almost constantly. Behind all their inflammatory rhetoric is a mass of subtle inflammatory rhetoric.

Also, Google "Authoritarian Followers".

Randomly selected quote: "25% of the population, according to Bob Altemeyer, are authoritarian followers, more or less impervious to reasoned arguments."

[spinbaby]

46. They stay home and watch Fox news

Many of them are a favorite Fox demographic--senile.

My 86-year-old mother, who's still sharp as a tack, says that Fox news reminds her of the Nazi propaganda of her youth.

[Zorra]

48. "Socialism never took root in America because the poor

see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires."
— John Steinbeck

[Festivito]

50. They are more prone to CIA propaganda tactics because they did not grow up with them.

And, now they are stuck believing that Rush was right, or, that they've been really really really wrong for a long long time.