Older Educated Voters Shifting To Democrats

[Cheerful Charlie]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...rs-shift-away-from-trumps-party-idUSKBN1HG1I6

Nationwide, whites over the age of 60 with college degrees now favor Democrats over Republicans for Congress by a 2-point margin, according to Reuters/Ipsos opinion polling during the first three months of the year. During the same period in 2016, that same group favored Republicans for Congress by 10 percentage points.
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Not good news for the GOP. The mid-term elections could be exciting.

 

[Malintent]

I'd like for the democrats to quietly win the House. I'd rather the media not highlight the need for republicans to pull out all the stops. The democratic failure of last election was due to public opinion being there was no reason to oppose a sure-loser. There was a surprise. The democrats should be working toward the sneak attack a bit more, and advertisement of the political score works against that end.

 

[hurtinbuckaroo]

You want the media to aid the Democrats by not reporting this?

 

[Elixir]

You want the media to aid the Democrats by not reporting this?

Just so they don't trigger the nazis! Last time the nazis got scared, they teamed up with Putin and elected a semi-sentient tub of orange lard as PRESIDENT!

 

[Underseer]

Given that Republicans have made no secret of the fact that they want to end Social Security and Medicare, it's a miracle any old people at all (other than independently wealthy members of the elite) would want to vote Republican.

Then again, Republicans are awfully racist, and we know how appealing that is to the average old person. Many would happily be evicted from their homes and go live in a ditch as long as those "dirty dark people" are made to really suffer.

 

[Malintent]

You want the media to aid the Democrats by not reporting this?

Want? Yes. Think it is "fair"? No. Care? Not anymore.

 

[Copernicus]

This is an important trend, because this demographic tends to cast votes. The main issue here is that Democrats are seen as more likely to favor bringing down the cost of health care. Republicans keep making noises about privatizing the VA and Medicare. The Republican tax cuts for rich people did not play as well among retirees as Republicans expected it to, and Trump is bringing about unpredictable changes that rattle the nerves of change-averse oldsters. Of course, they have to stop watching Fox News in order to learn what is really happening out there.

 

[southernhybrid]

Given that Republicans have made no secret of the fact that they want to end Social Security and Medicare, it's a miracle any old people at all (other than independently wealthy members of the elite) would want to vote Republican.

Then again, Republicans are awfully racist, and we know how appealing that is to the average old person. Many would happily be evicted from their homes and go live in a ditch as long as those "dirty dark people" are made to really suffer.

I don't think it has much if anything to do with race. It has to do with three things: guns, abortion and Fox News. Older conservatives are usually Christians and for some reason conservative Christians love guns and think that abortion equates with killing babies. Fox News is a huge propaganda organization. Whenever I walk into a place in Georgia that has a tv set on, it's almost always running Fox News. When I was still working in long term care, most of my patients only watched Fox News. I did have one wonderful old Democrat client, who loved to discuss politics with me, but he was a life long Democrat while all of his children had become Republicans. This is much more complicated than you think.

But, I totally agree that it makes no sense that so many poor and middle class older people vote Republican when their very survival depends on SS and Medicare. Again, I blame Fox News, which means that many older folks are low information voters.

 

[Playball40]

I don't believe for one second that is the 'average' old person.

Given that Republicans have made no secret of the fact that they want to end Social Security and Medicare, it's a miracle any old people at all (other than independently wealthy members of the elite) would want to vote Republican.

Then again, Republicans are awfully racist, and we know how appealing that is to the average old person. Many would happily be evicted from their homes and go live in a ditch as long as those "dirty dark people" are made to really suffer.

 

[Elixir]

I don't believe for one second that is the 'average' old person.

Given that Republicans have made no secret of the fact that they want to end Social Security and Medicare, it's a miracle any old people at all (other than independently wealthy members of the elite) would want to vote Republican.

Then again, Republicans are awfully racist, and we know how appealing that is to the average old person. Many would happily be evicted from their homes and go live in a ditch as long as those "dirty dark people" are made to really suffer.

Ye of little faith! I just turned 68, and would have been drawing SS in a couple of years had I not helped dismantle it for the greater good. Happy to forego all means of support, as long as I can keep my lovely orange hero. He's the only thing standing between me and an army of angry El Salvadorans on one side, and some other people who you can't see in the dark on the other. May merciful God bless my Protector and all the very fine people who stand with him!