How does one counter the conservatism that seems to overtake people as they age?

[quakerboy]

43. Numbers

In 1980 the 18-21 year olds went 44/43 for Carter. Those who were 22-29 years old voted 43/43 even split between Carter and Reagan (per wikipedia)

In 2012 the 18 year olds would be 50 and the 29 year olds would be 61. The 45-64 year olds went for Romney 51-47. (per Pew)

This would seem to indicate one of four things. Either 1) Liberals died off at a greater rate, leaving a higher proportion of conservatives in that age range to vote, 2) Liberals in that age range chose not to vote/conservatives voted in greater than normal proportion, 3) those who were 13-18 and 30-32 in 1980 are drastically more conservative than those 18-29 at that time, or 4) your assertion is incorrect.

Then again, looking at Reagan election, compared to ford, He actually dropped 7% in the 18-21's. He dropped 3% in the 22-29's compared to Ford. So that would seem to indicate that it was in fact, not conservative gains in the youth that pushed him over the top. It was the over 30's where he gained. 5% in the 30-44 year olds, who are our current 62-76 year olds. 54/37 for Reagan. Nowadays that group went somewhere around 53/45 for Romney. So that set of voters, if anything, have gone the other way from the Ops Hypothesis. The conservatives stayed conservative, and the independents became liberal. At least for a day, a vote.

For whatever numbers are worth, anyway.