Why Seniors Are Turning Against The GOP

[eridani]

Is my demographic starting to catch a clue? Looks like it.

http://www.nationalmemo.com/carville-greenberg/why-seniors-are-turning-against-the-gop/

We first noticed a shift among seniors early in the summer of 2011, as Paul Ryan’s plan to privatize Medicare became widely known (and despised) among those at or nearing retirement. Since then, the Republican Party has come to be defined by much more than its desire to dismantle Medicare. To voters from the center right to the far left, the GOP is now defined by resistance, intolerance, intransigence, and economics that would make even the Robber Barons blush. We have seen other voters pull back from the GOP, but among no group has this shift been as sharp as it is among senior citizens:

—Seniors are now much less likely to identify with the Republican Party. On Election Day in 2010, the Republican Party enjoyed a net 10 point party identification advantage among seniors (29 percent identified as Democrats, 39 percent as Republicans). As of last month, Democrats now had a net 6 point advantage in party identification among seniors (39 percent to 33 percent).

What do seniors care about now? Our Democracy Corps July National Survey found that:

—89 percent of seniors want to protect Medicare benefits and premiums.
—87 percent of seniors want to raise pay for working women.
—79 percent of seniors think we need to expand scholarships for working adults.
—77 percent of seniors want to expand access to high-quality and affordable childcare for working parents.
—74 percent of seniors want to cut subsidies to big oil companies, agribusinesses, and multinational corporations in order to invest in education, infrastructure, and technology.
—66 percent of seniors want to expand state health insurance exchanges under Obamacare

[Scuba]

1. Yeah, but they've still got the racists.

[SharonAnn]

36. But when people understand the economic hurt of GOP policies, they may finally

see that they're being "played" with all these social issues.

It's really all about the money. The GOP wants to take all the people's money. Medicare, Social Security, wages, equal pay, financial security, etc. Once people understand this, they may get their priorities right.

All the "social issues" are just cover-ups for the GOP theft from the people.

[Scuba]

38. You obviously get it. As I so often tell my neighbors, they're not coming for your guns ....

... they're coming for your Social Security.

[Skidmore]

42. That is a bigoted statement as well.

Not all seniors are racists any more than all youths are without racists among them. Let's put the broad brushes dowm.

[Scuba]

43. I did not suggest that all seniors are racists. Just that all racists are Republicans.

[donco]

2. Wonder how

the repugs will attempt to suppress the senior vote?

[LiberalEsto]

4. Long waits, long lines at the polls.

We could counter this by bringing folding chairs to polling places.

[donco]

6. that will

just piss us off more.We have plenty of time...better have some porta potty's though.

[smallcat88]

11. voter ID

Know how many seniors can't produce a birth certificate? The voter ID laws target them as much as people of color.

[maindawg]

34. many seniors do not have birth cerificates

many dont drive....so they have already eliminated the older seniors.

[spooky3]

3. The fifth bullet point is especially interesting.

Who says seniors don't care about our future as long as "they've got theirs"?

But I'm skeptical of all polls because so much depends on exactly how questions were worded. I'd like to see more evidence of this shift in their actual voting behavior.

[greymattermom]

5. Many seniors like me

are still supporting their adult children. If I want to retire, ever, they need the things listed here. This makes perfect sense to me. I'm 67 and can't think about retiring while my adult children can't make it without my help.

[Arugula Latte]

7. My mother was just talking to me about this.

She was saying that a lot of her friends have adult children (in their 30s, 40s and 50s) who are struggling financially and needed a lot of help from their parents. I know my mom has been generous with us, too, to help us out over the years. Life is tough and so freakin' expensive for even the basics. Maybe the reality of this economic situation is sinking in with more seniors. The generation that came of age right after WWII had a pretty unusual economic landscape, and that landscape has changed dramatically. Maybe more seniors see their children and grandchildren struggling to navigate in an atmosphere of hostility towards all our traditional great and helpful governments programs.

[SharonAnn]

37. Yes, things like equal pay affect their daughters and granddaughters lives forever.

If I had the $500,000 - $1,000,000 I'd have been paid if I were a man, my retired life would be much more stable. And I worked in a field where I was paid more than most women were, yet it was always less than the pay of my male colleagues.

Ah well, I'm grateful for what I've been able to do with my career which provided much more opportunity than my brilliant mother ever had. I just thought that we'd be farther along by now and that my daughters and granddaughters would have even more opportunity than I had. Sadly, that's still a future we need to hope for.

[jaysunb]

8. +1 n/t

[Faryn Balyncd]

9. This is BIG . . . . .

[bigdarryl]

40. Not if Obama introduces this CHAIN CPI that will fuck us royally in 2014 with seniors

[Faryn Balyncd]

41. You are correct.

[orwell]

10. But they still have the God, Guns, and (anti)Gays crowd.

Lawd a mercy...

[grilled onions]

12. The Times Are A-Changing

While they think seniors are too senile to understand many can out think the D.C. crowd. Every day it's another issue which would be difficult or is already so for the typical senior. Every day pensions are cut. Interest rates are in the loo making the idea of saving for a bit of change impossible. The talk about dropping the U.S. P.S must send shivers down their spine. Many do not(cannot afford) internet and do not feel comfy doing business on line. Many get meds by mail. This is a link to the world that has always been there for them. They see their kids, their grandkids struggling more every day. Many end up bunking with ma or grandma because they have little choice in between jobs or just piss poor paying jobs. Parents and grandparents also are finding things lean at the end of the month. Misery loves company but it's not the retirement they dreamed of no more than it's the life they wished for their kids or grandkids.
While we do have those still stuck in the days of the big racial divide and those lived when queer meant more than just unusual but many were closet liberals in those days. They often did not make comments because the world was so much against minorities and the gay community. Today some don't care anymore and some have actually changed their thinking. They see that racism has now turned into a different form. Many they used to vote for now are against the senior voter,the poor population--even the offspring of the seniors calling them lazy good for nothings because they can't find a job or remain under employed. That can turn many a senior into a lean mean fighting machine.

[Jackpine Radical]

13. My generation marched at Selma, fought in Vietnam,

protested against Vietnam, invented the "New Left," did lots of mind-altering drugs, and envisioned a new world.

When I went to the (pre-)Iraq protests a decade or so ago, I mostly saw the same people, now gray, bald, potbellied & gimpy, still protesting.

There are a lot of us who are just what we always were, but a lot older now.

[Lifelong Protester]

15. Sing it, Jackpine, I'm with you!

I ain't given in or given up.

[avaistheone1]

18. I see mostly the older folks around me

protesting the hell of most of the bull****.

Proud to be one of them.

[Enthusiast]

22. You're my favorite kind of radical!

[freshwest]

16. +1,000

[JustAnotherGen]

26. Another +1

Very well said.

[Wounded Bear]

14. Maybe because the GOP turned on them.....

Just sayin'....

[blkmusclmachine]

17. The old farts are gonna die soon, anyway. F 'em!!!

[avaistheone1]

19. That what some are hoping.

[avaistheone1]

20. Frankly I don't think this administration has done much for seniors.

We don't seem to be on this administration's radar at all.

[Enthusiast]

21. Oh, no! Seniors are turning into hippies!

[eridani]

32. You have it ass-backwards--hippies are turning into seniors! n/t

[Enthusiast]

33. I knew that.

[walkerbait41]

39. This old Senior

Is still a hippie and will be one until the day I die.

[flpoljunkie]

23. Good news for the 2014 mid-terms, if this 6 point Dem advantage continues.

Seniors do tend to vote in the mid-terms. The Democratic party, with the help of President Obama, need to work hard to get the rest of the Democratic coalition who voted in the 2012 presidential election to come out and vote in 2014. Mid-term elections matter!

[forestpath]

24. Since Obama wants to cut Social Security, NEITHER party is on seniors' side...

unless those seniors are filthy rich, that is.

[Scurrilous]

25. K & R

[Berlum]

27. my elderly in=laws were diehard, lifelong Republicans

but they got fed up with the relentless negativity, FAIL, and Repubbie efforts to dismantle American greatness.

They shake their heads sadly when they think of how the Repubbies suckered them for so many years.

[lark]

28. Good for us old folks!

I'm proud of that list and support every one of those.

[azureblue]

29. Seniors is not a monolith

remember, today's "seniors" are yesterday's 60's counterculture. The GOP somehow believes that once a person turns 65, they become an easily fooled Fox TV watcher. But people who grew up in the sixties are now turning 65, and they recall their early days of peace, love, and resisting the corporate take over of America. They are smart, well read, they ask too many questions, and are very cynical about what some talking head or politician tries to tell them, and they are not afraid of asking pointed questions. And they are pissed at what has happened to America since those days. And they are getting politically active again.

[eridani]

31. The youngest seniors were counterculture participants

We've still got a lot of older "silent generation" types around who are more conservative, though a significant minority are old-fashioned FDR Dems.

That means that the long term trend here is good. Older boomers are more likely to have pensions in addition to SocSec, and the time and energy to be full time activists. If the more tech-savvy millenials stay involved, this could be a very potent social change combination.

[Tippy]

30. I just hope they don't starve before the next two elections

Democrats need to make sure these folks get to the polls

[Rosa Luxemburg]

35. Seniors should ditch the GOP

senior votes for the GOP should = 0

otherwise seniors will be voting against themselves