Why, oh why, are elderly voters supporting RMoney-Ryan in the polls?

[MariaM83]

The team that wants to annihilate Medicare and Social Security?

[librechik]

1. just to stick it to younger folks. Seriously.

[mr_hat]

3. C'mon. The elderly have their own real issues to deal with. n/t

[librechik]

11. I'm being facetious, but the elderly are often low information voters,

and think that Obama is taking something away from them to give it to the young and undeserving. They have been propagandized for decades about this; they probably think young folks are all hippies! (the elderly voters we are talking about that still vote Repub--not all the elderly, of course)

[DURHAM D]

15. horse manure

old hippies are now seniors

[librechik]

33. my point exactly!!! They are thinking wrong, and I'm not talking about 60 yr old HIPPIEs like me

I'm talking about the selfish rich boomers we hippies have been fighting against since 1968, at least--they hate us and want to sink us because we have long hair. I'm not kidding. They are crazy. And it is horse manure!

[DURHAM D]

38. nope

[Zoeisright]

67. Yep.

http://www.wfxg.com/story/19164423/poll-shows-youth-support-for-obama-elderly-support-for-romney

Read it and weep.

[patrice]

37. Not all hippies were authentically counter-culture, or they either gave it up completely or

surrendered its essence, while retaining its stylistic trappings for whatever reward is in those behaviors.

[left on green only]

54. There is an excellent song that was written about that very thing....

....by Jackson Browne. It is called "Before The Deluge"

Personally, I never shunned the ideals of the '60's, but rather continued to embrace and develop them within my own spirit.

[jeff47]

59. Nixon youth significantly outnumbered hippies.

While hippies got media coverage, the majority of their cohort were not so liberal.

Remember, it's boomers that brought about the Reagan landslides.

[Indpndnt]

23. I don't think so. The AARP audience just booed Lyin'Ryan when he spoke

about repealing Obamacare. And the AARP site debunks all of his Health Care Reform talking points.

[lumpy]

49. It is common knowledge that the majority of voters are afflicted with

low comprehension of information ascerbated with a disinterest in information itself.

[lumpy]

51. Yeah, old people hate our youth,they like to stick it to younger people.

Like their own children, grandchildren and that cute couple that just got married. Seriously.

[DURHAM D]

2. Because the Dems have done a poor job of messaging.

and it starts with Obama

[librechik]

6. true dat n/t

[Ikonoklast]

17. "...and it starts with Obama." Because of who he is, mostly.

Mostly because a rather large fraction of that demographic who happen to be retired White people, despise that Black Muslim Usurper and won't listen to facts, no matter who tells them.

There is currently a generational shift in attitudes toward race, and it is mostly happening because the Old Guard is dying off.

[DURHAM D]

25. Sorry but that does not work.

I am white and retired and have just spent the past week in airports, airplanes, social gatherings, etc. Over and over again I had to explain the basics about the difference between Romney and Obama re: medicare. The info that is out there is very very confusing. Once explained clearly they are voting for Obama.

They (seniors and everyone else) just don't have good info and the Dems have not done a good job of spelling it out. I am glad that I can do it but the national campaign is where it needs to start and not from someone like me who spends enough time on DU to get it, can boil it down, and then contrast the two parties in simple terms.

[Booster]

40. Bless you for doing that, Durham D. Where is Joe Biden? He should be the one to explain all of

this to seniors, especially the part where experts say R&R will make Medicare insolvent by 2016 - seniors on Medicare now could surely figure out that that would be curtains for them. I haven't seen Biden campaigning at all but I could have just missed him.

[Ikonoklast]

42. And there are those that refuse to listen, you cannot use facts with them. Won't work.

Their minds are made up, and don't want to be shown any facts or figures, becuase they just won't believe them.

I've talked to more than one like that, they are convinced that Obama is stealing from them and going to give it to....those people.

Scared, old, and for many of them, I'm afraid to say, racist.

I am sure that we need to better counter the lies that Mitt and Ryan just stand there and spout without getting called on it, but I hope to see the Big Hammer come out in the debates.

Ryan especially, as he really has nothing to counter facts with.

[lumpy]

50. The reasons you state certainly can be applied to those who will vote Republican

not just to seniors. Those who are scared, racist, minds are made up etc. Do you include the thousands of seniors who will vote for Obama? Like myself.

[MariaM83]

24. this seems like a HUGE missed opportunity -- this issue should have decided the election nt

[treestar]

62. Oh Baloney

It's because old right wing geezers don't listen to the Dems. And they don't listen to Obama, because he's black and they can't stand it. They "know" what Obama has said and done via Rush and Faux, and therefore have a wrong impression, willfully.

Not to say there aren't left wing old geezers but the polls show up more right wing ones.

[DURHAM D]

64. That is just not true.

Can you explain the differences between the party positions in a few sound bites or in less than 2 minutes keeping in mind that the anti-Obamacare rhetoric has dominated the message and media for two years? I will answer for you - No you can't.

I see that you, like the national Dems, have dismissed a whole group of people as racist instead of questioning. nice...

That makes you an ageist at the very least.

[treestar]

65. This is a poll

I'm not an ageist because Rmoney leads Obama by 15% among 65+ geezers. That's a fact from that poll.

And if they believe the anti-Obamacare rhetoric, it's because they didn't even try to find out what both sides have to say. They are content to listen to Lyan Ryan, Faux, Rmoney and just believe them wholesale. Why won't they listen to both sides of any question? Because they want to believe the lies.

And if you think that there aren't plenty of white people who are racist - that's not my fault, that's just a fact, and the older the white person the more likely they are to be racist, that's not something I made up.

with of course obligatory not that of course there are old white liberals who are not racists, but that doesn't mean they are a majority of said group.

[DURHAM D]

68. You didn't answer the "explaining" question.

You spend a lot of time on DU. If you don't you can't know the facts by watching tv news. period

[treestar]

70. Why are you talking about me and DU?

That has nothing to do with it.

Obama and the Dems do enough "messaging" for me, but I know of right wingers who would never listen anyway.

For instance they think he is "angry." To me this is proof they are only getting information about what he said third hand and never listened to him directly. Messaging could be wonderful, but they refuse to listen. They already decided what they want to think. If they listened to the Dems at all, they would at least realize Lyan's a liar.

[polichick]

4. Fear - and they think it's still their father's Republican Party...

If the get their info from Faux News they know nothing but lies.

[Vogon_Glory]

14. That's Pretty Much True

That's pretty much true. I don't think that most people really think very hard about political issues and if they choose to get their information from Faux Noise Propaganda (My name for that Newscorp-owned cable operation) and radio talk shows, they're severely misinformed.

I agree with you that too many people, particularly seniors, have a hard time realizing that today's Republican Party is not only NOT the GOP of their parents' day, but that it has gone even further to the right than it was while Buckaroo Bush was President.

It takes a lot of work to do the research to find a candidate's positions (particularly with all the lying going on) and a lot of courage to not only realize that a party that you've supported and voted for for over twenty, thirty years has gone around the bend. An awful lot of seniors are still stuck in that place of self-delusion where they can't see the changes that their party has made or accept that their party will not only no longer protect their interests, their party will gleefully sell their interests to the highest campaign donor.

[jody]

5. What ages does your elderly voters include? nt

[skeewee08]

7. After what happen at The AARP thos #'s will change

[yardwork]

8. I get Romney campaign material almost every day. It's hammering away at "Obamacare stole Medicare!!!

It's a total bogus lie but lots of people believe it.

People who are watching Fox News all day and listening to Rush believe that Obama is a communist foreign socialist Muslim.

[MariaM83]

10. grrrr

[treestar]

63. You can even flat out tell them it's all a lie

But they want to believe these lies. They won't look further than Faux, Rush and their stupid chain emails.

[MariaM83]

9. I wonder how many of them actually think 'that colored fellow is in over his head' nt

[Third Doctor]

12. You beat me to it

A lot of older people, especially in the red states are still shocked that a black man is in the WH.

[reformist2]

13. A lot of older voters fall for the outrageous lies on the internet.

A lot of them (including my parents) have wound up on these chain e-mail lists where they get bombarded with absurd anti-Obama propaganda on a daily basis.

[Arugula Latte]

26. ...and the outrageous lies of Fox News.

I remember my grandmother used to think the National Enquirer was a legitimate newspaper.

[sinkingfeeling]

16. Please provide link.

[MariaM83]

21. click on any of the links at the wikipedia (or RealClearPolitics) article

on nationwide opinion polling for the united state presidential election, 2012

[HockeyMom]

18. I'm already getting mine,

It won't affect my age group. Obama is the one who will end Medicare with Obamacare.

Mostly brainwashing by Fox News.

[Stinky The Clown]

19. Think about it . . . .

. . . . . a lot of them are Reagan Democrats, particularly the older ones. Those in their fifties and sixties may or may not be, but they labor under the phenomenon of growing more conservative as they generally age.

It is hard to say, with any real certainty why they tend to vote more conservative - and there are huge numbers who do not - but they do, at a higher rate than the population in general.

Your questions is a broad brush one and the only possible answers are also broad brush.

[reformist2]

20. Many are still scared about those "death panels" - you have to give Sarah Palin credit for that.

[Thinkingabout]

22. Don't generalize all elderly voters as voting for Rmoney.

This might be happening with GOP senior voters but this Democrat will not be voting for Rmoney or Ryan. Also, many seniors are very informed, I listen to faux news to know what the rw's are going to be saying which is untrue. Also I will add, I am against medicare being cut off for our younger folks unless by the time they reach 65 the AFA will be in place as national insurance. I can understand your concern for anyone voting for Rmoney but don't classify seniors as the voters for Rmoney PLEASE.

[lumpy]

45. Some DU posts lead some people to assume that all seniors vote Republican and

assume that we think only of ourselves and have lost the ability to even think straight. I have noticed this time after time. Of course I resent this. Seniors are very little different than any other group of humanity. In the past I have worked with over 70 aged people who astounded me with their wise approach to life, events and knowledge. Many seniors stated that they get little attention when they do express their opinions, rather are shunted off into the sidelines. Now I am in the over 70 group and I know what they mean. I don't resent that, but it sends a message that seniors don't count.
I am a Democrat and have always voted accordingly. I certainly remain interested in politics as well as world events. Maybe I don't express myself as well as I once did, but the old brain is still functioning as always. You all will understand what I am saying when you get to that 'golden age'.
It is simply unfair to catagorize seniors as a throw away part of society and blame them for their political stance. How about that 70 and under crowd ?

[KamaAina]

27. Which polls?

[lame54]

28. They watch Fox

[BlueToTheBone]

29. They are most likely low information voters.

They know they have a couple of social issues and they vote that way.

[lumpy]

46. Who the hell is this 'they'?

Blanket statements never hold the whole truth. Is there anyone else who is a low information voter who only vote according to their personal issues? Your prejudice is showing.

[BlueToTheBone]

71. In this case the "They" that's the subject of this discussion

is elderly voters going for rMoney.

This is World Peace Day...join us.

[AngryOldDem]

30. Three reasons

1) It's all they know. In some cases (like my late mother's) voting Republican goes back generations.

2) The older population, in some cases, still has not fully come to terms with the idea of racial equality.

3) People, in general, will buy any argument as long as it's spun toward what they **think** are their best interests.

[dmosh42]

31. At 70, I'm in the senior category, but still have reasoning power.....

I lived in Florida for 12 yrs, and I can say I'm not surprised that Romney gets a lot of support from a large percentage of seniors. Without going into a lot of stories, I'll just say the short negative ads do the job for many of them, as they don't want to do too much research on their own. And many of the others are your standard tea-baggers, racists and dummies. I can't resist one short story about how the Repukes who controlled our county wanted 'Christian teaching' in the schools, so submitted it to a vote, and with big support from the senior community, passed it. This was after they were warned about the lawsuits to follow, plus the violation of the constitution. Needless to say, the county had to repeal that law, and they laost some lawsuits that cost plenty! How dumb can we get!

[patrice]

32. Decades of being low-information voters, who are dependent upon others

for "what's going on", especially churches.

In some situations, they can even lose their "care-community" membership if they are perceived as a problem.

[anarch]

34. I can only speak to this with regard to people I know personally

The few elderly voters I know who have stated they are voting for the GOP ticket are doing so because they are racists. There's really no other reason besides that.

On the other hand, I haven't spoken to any of them since the whole "47%" debacle, so they may not now be intending to vote at all. But they will never vote for Obama, because they are old-fashioned bigots.

[jody]

39. Agree, anyone who votes for or against a candidate because of race is a bigot whether old or new

fashion.

[lumpy]

48. Funny, I know several people who do not fall into the senior catagory and strangely

enough, are old-fashioned racists. Hmmm, most of them range from 25 to 50 and younger.

[jeff47]

60. Boy you are working your ass off to be offended.

The poster explicitly states that they are only talking about the seniors they know. You decided that the statement must apply to all seniors. You really, really want to be offended, don't you?

[tularetom]

35. A lot of old people are scared and the Republicans know how to exploit that

"Obamacare will end Medicare" is only the latest example.

Actually the Democrats know how to exploit their fear as well but for some reason they never do it.

[JitterbugPerfume]

36. to put it bluntly

a lot of people from my generation are still scared stiff of black men

[DUFan]

41. Age 70 and up - Not all but a large percentage.

A lot of racism, these are the Jim Crow era people who still use the N word in conversation. They are the Fox News age demographic and they are very religious, despising gays. I have lived around these people since my husband retired and I am so sick of them.

[MariaM83]

43. several are asking for links - ok here are some

"[among likely voters] Mr. Obama leads his Republican rival across all ages of voters, except those who are 65 or older, who favor Mr. Romney by 15 percentage points."
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/14/poll-obama-holds-narrow-edge-over-romney/

"Voters ages 65 and older favor Romney by a 15-point margin, 54 percent to 39 percent" (Gallup)
http://www.nationaljournal.com/daily/obama-s-enthusiasm-deficit-could-soon-haunt-him-20120902

"An Associated Press-GfK poll that was released this week found Romney was favored by seniors likely to vote, 52 percent to 41 percent for Obama."
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/2012/president/candidates/romney/2012/09/21/obama-camp-argues-romney-video-offends-seniors/HO91FHig34RANV8eOQFL2L/story.html

"In our August 2012, NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, Romney led Obama among seniors, aged 65 and older, 49 percent to 41 percent."
http://photoblog.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/06/13706997-seniors-supporting-obama-talk-medicare-and-more-at-the-dnc?lite

"Obama has an edge among all voters younger than 50, offsetting Romney's backing among those 65 and older."
http://articles.latimes.com/2012/aug/23/nation/la-na-presidential-poll-20120823/2

"Polls consistently show that voters under 30 lean heavily toward Obama, and those 65 and older skew similarly toward Republican contender Mitt Romney."
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/national-politics/20120903-generation-gap-on-display-in-obama-romney-presidential-race.ece

[Zoeisright]

69. Thank you. Hopefully this will shut up the people who are denying

the elderly support the white guy.

[Bluenorthwest]

73. Among the demographic there is a small edge favoring the Republicans...

That is a far cry from 'they support the white guy'. A 7 point advantage means slightly more than half support Republicans at this moment, slightly less support Obama at this moment. So saying 'the elderly support the white guy' is some creepy juicy unfair verbiage.

[L0oniX]

44. Racism over common sense. Can't wait for these old white racist bastards to die off.

After another 4 years they won't be a majority (if they still are) ever again.

[MariaM83]

53. I'm not so sure about that -- RMoney has a wide lead over Obama in younger white men too

can't say that that's due to racism per se
but one wonders

[L0oniX]

55. Their are a lot less young white men than old ones.

[MrMickeysMom]

47. Do they only get networks and Fox?

Could be that there is less internets and more non-cable fed "news"

Then, there's AM radio and all the racists that never progressed after 1964...

[MariaM83]

52. good points nt

[Grammy23]

56. I live in FL and qualify as one of the geezers...I'm 63, soon to be 64.

I do not fit the profile that has been described here and in some circles would definitely be defined as a "bleeding heart liberal". That is no insult to me, quite frankly. I would much rather be considered Librul than someone from the other side with a black as coal, hard heart.

I think one thing that might be going on with seniors in this state is the number of them who live in "Communities", senior villages and sun cities. We have a friend who moved from NW FL several years ago to his Mecca.....The Villages in central Florida. Even though NW Florida is VERY conservative, he moved there and is more in his element there. It's highly unlikely that anyone there will challenge his ultra conservative views. When all you hear from people you live around only echos what you believe, your views will just be reinforced not changed. I'm no expert, but I do think if you only hang out or live with people just like you, there is a good chance you have CHOSEN that because you don't want to be challenged.

Oddly enough, my challenge is that my son and his wife are the ones buying the Romney/Ryan ticket this year. They were also supporters of McCain/Palin. They are very religious .... I am not. Pro-life (Me?? Pro choice) They are do not support same sex marriage or even civil unions. (They believe it is morally wrong.) I support Marriage Equality. They get agitated over people who get welfare and food stamps.....But do not seem to get just as agitated over the Oil subsidies. In addition, they have gotten WIC when they needed it a few years ago. (I know....go figure.) I have not been able to get through to them that the Republican policies are not in their best interest. She is 38, he is 43 with three school age kids. They are so blinded by the social issues that they will overlook the other policies that will harm them financially.

This Grammy considers herself informed about the issues that pertain to me and my family. But more than that, I also consider what will be good or BAD for the poor and middle class citizens of this country. I do think about someone other than just myself. I can't say that my son and daughter in law think in those terms. I think they are still in that place you occupy when you do not envision that you'll ever be "old". They are still in that happy place. And they think that Paul Ryan represents them....very close to their age.

[MariaM83]

58. I bet they don't even realize how lucky they are to have you! nt

[nenagh]

57. Don't forget that many seniors, grandparents are thinking that by voting Republican..

Their children and grandchildren will NOT have to pay back crippling USA debt..because Republicans will reduce the deficit.

We understand this is a crock of sh** promise... Because really the Repubs want to keep the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest.

But Luntzian doublespeak is clever as is using the statement re the 716 billion as being taken away, and weakening Medicare.

[raccoon]

61. Because Romney's white. nt

[Auntie Bush]

66. And Obama is BLACK! nt

[ibegurpard]

72. Because they're terrified

they've never seen the world in this state and they want tough-talkers.