Democratic Underground: Participation by age and gender.

[BluesRunTheGame]

I know that most of the regular posters here are older folks. I’m curious how many younger people stop by and read DU for news and information. A recent post suggested that among younger Americans women were becoming more liberal while men were becoming more conservative. I wonder if that’s reflected by DUs readership.

375 votes, 6 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	Younger than 20, male.
	0 (0%)
	Younger than 20, female.
	0 (0%)
	20s, male.
	0 (0%)
	20s, female.
	1 (0%)
	30s, male.
	8 (2%)
	30s, female.
	2 (1%)
	40s, male.
	16 (4%)
	40s, female.
	6 (2%)
	50 and up, male.
	176 (47%)
	50 and up, female.
	166 (44%)
	6 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
Show usernames Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll

[PatSeg]

1. K&R

[Lunabell]

2. What about non binary? Or other genders?

Not everyone is male or female.

[BluesRunTheGame]

3. That could be a different poll.

There are only 10 spaces. I did the best I could with what was available.

[SoFlaBro]

47. I know space was limited but in a separate poll, I am fucking curious to how the numbers would play out, as well.

[MOMFUDSKI]

4. Definitely older.

And WAY more jaded, of course.

[Cha]

5. Many of us started Out on DU over 20years ago..

Age Happens.. Darn! LOL!

[bamagal62]

9. I started lurking here in 2005.

Amazing that it’s been 19 years.

[Cha]

12. Looking Back it

Went Too Fast!💙🌊🕊️🕯️🇺🇸

[bdamomma]

16. Yes Cha

Age happens, I felt sort of good in that poll as 50+!!!!!!

[Cha]

46. lol.. yeah, 50+ a few decades!

Aloha, bdamommma

[Ohio Joe]

19. Damn...

I still have 2 more years till I hit my 20

[Cha]

25. Good on you.. it's still a long time.

I left for 2 years in 2010 come to think of it.

[Dulcinea]

42. I also left & came back.

Female, age 58.

[Cha]

45. Female Many Moons older... yours is about

the age I was when I started this Journey.

[Timewas]

6. Old

82 YO male

[Cha]

28. I'll be entering into that

Decade this year.

Now it’s all staying healthy. And the 💙🌊🇺🇸🕯️🕊️

[Croney]

59. Me too, in November! It's exciting.

🙂

[Deuxcents]

34. 🫶

[Wounded Bear]

7. K&R...nt

[ClimateHawk]

8. I'm one of the younger ones here

I'm turning 34 years old next week. I've been a registered Democrat since 2008. I'm a fairly liberal guy and my views haven't really changed over the years. "Vote blue no matter who" is the motto I follow.

I joined DU in 2012 just before the election. I'm happy to be here in these crazy times.

[BluesRunTheGame]

10. I've been around since 2001.

Last edited Sat Mar 2, 2024, 08:51 PM - Edit history (1)

In the early days there were several high school and college students who were regular posters. I was in my early 40s (65 now). I’m a bit surprised there aren’t more younger people here now.

[TexasDem69]

24. I've been following DU for a long time

I wonder if the lack of younger folks here now is the changing face of social media? I also post on Facebook a fair bit but not TikTok and my kids (who are in their 20s) think Facebook is outdated

[Act_of_Reparation]

43. If the poll is accurate, this place is practically devoid of anyone under 50.

Social media isn't an adequate explanation for so many demographics being so poorly represented. Presumably, people in their late teens and early 20's stumbled on this site in the early 2000's. Any reasons they might not have stuck around?

[DetroitLegalBeagle]

52. Message boards/forums have been in decline for years now

They are no where near as popular or as active as they were when I was in high school. Many went under as ad blockers became the norm(since many derived their revenue to run the site from ads) and reddit subreddits and Facebook groups have replaced many of them. The handful of others that I am still members of have similar age demo's as DU, they nearly all skew older.

[Hekate]

58. We came when BushCheney were installed. We were in robust active middle age then...

We came when BushCheney were installed. We were in robust active middle age then…
…and many of us had real life experience in political activism from our youth, which we used to oppose BushCheney..

We stayed. We made friends. Many subgroups formed.

It’s amazing what a quarter century will do to one’s age and energy. I thought everybody else stayed the same age — it was kind of a shock to realize everybody else aged too.

[Elessar Zappa]

65. I found this site in 2003 at the age of 19.

Back then there wasn’t any posters near my age that I knew of. Most were in their 40s, 50s, and 60s at that time.

[appalachiablue]

32. Bravo, glad you're here. It's vital to have people of diff ages and

backgrounds. DU has so many groups which is great - for educators, expats, musicians, artists, Christians, feminists, cooks, birders and more.

It would be healthy to have more younger members here to share their views, experiences and concerns. New blood. They could still participate in other social media platforms.

Young people are the future and have the most at stake in these difficult times.

'Young lions show me your teeth.'

[niyad]

60. Wishing you an early Happy Birthday and a wonderful coming year.

[Aristus]

11. I joined in October of 2001, the day after my thirty-third birthday.

A lot has changed in the world, a lot has stayed the same, for better or worse, and a lot of things have gotten worse.

DU keeps me sane.

I'll never leave...

[BluesRunTheGame]

13. I started reading DU on 9/11. I signed up and started posting in December or January.

[bdamomma]

17. I'll never leave

either been here since 2006. I wish we could have a DU convention and see each other face to face.
I'm curious.

[Aristus]

18. DU used to have a portrait gallery.

DU-ers used to post pics of themselves as a kind of get-to-know-you. There also used to be many posts in which DU-ers would share pics of themselves, their families, and their lives. I don't see many of those anymore. I can only assume right-wing trolls started harassing anyone they could plausibly claim to identify through their pics. I'm sure there were death threats, too.

So, no more pics.

[bdamomma]

22. They

always have to ruin things for people,

[3auld6phart]

53. Interesting

My son, the ‘ putor whiz advised me not to post pics.Been following Du since Christ was a corporal, back in early days 20000s. A Mac tuquise., still not a whiz, hunt and peck typist.. bitmore up to date. I
Pad pad user now, still bloody slow user. I guess left of centre love the Du site.have to get the wife to rent my membership., today .to all the old timers hang in there.

[NBachers]

33. I can remember posts about DU meet-ups, either group or individuals & couples. I haven't seen any of those in a while.

[intheflow]

51. I went to many meetups.

At one time I was able to claim I easily knew over 100 DUers in real life. Some aren’t on here any more, some have passed, many changed their names and now I don’t know if I know who I’m talking to anymore. But the meetups were really great and I made one very good friend in the process.

[BOSSHOG]

37. I left in 2010

Came back in 2022. I was more aggressive back then. Kinda mellow now except when discussing “them.” You know, those who don’t understand the value of liberty and Justice for all.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

14. Honestly you should start it at 40 and up. There are a LOT of 70+.

[BluesRunTheGame]

15. I know we skew older.

I wanted to get an idea how many younger people were here. It appears the answer is: Not many.

[BOSSHOG]

36. I hit the big 7 0

In nine weeks. Glad to be here wherever here is.

[Grown2Hate]

20. Just turned 45 today; male. Joined right after 9/11 (found DU via BartCop, RIP). I was 100% non-political

before that. I've come a long way. Love DU.

[BluesRunTheGame]

21. Happy birthday!

[Grown2Hate]

39. Thank you! :) At my age I don't make a

fuss of it anymore, but very much appreciated. 😁

[elleng]

26. Clearly member of majority,

female OVER 50, approaching 130,000 posts, member since March 10 2004!

[Deuxcents]

27. It's Saturday night and maybe the younger DUers are out for the evening

Maybe we’ll hear from them tomorrow

[BluesRunTheGame]

29. Maybe they post from their desks at work through the week...

…when they should be busy making the boss richer.

[AverageOldGuy]

30. How about adding a few categories:

Older than dirt and feeling every day of it.

I used to think people my age were all dead.

I'm so old I don't remember my age.

[TygrBright]

31. Interesting breakdown: 20s, 30s, 40s, and "50s and older"?

So, does this mean there are likely to be significant cultural, experiential, and ideological differences between people in their 20s and people in their 30s, between people in their 30s and people in their 40s, and between all those groups and people "over 50", but generally people "over 50" are pretty much of a muchness?

As in, just... you know... OLD?

So it's important to recognize, understand and consider differences between those in their 20s, 30s, and 40s, but it's fine to just lump everyone over 50 together and assume they're all pretty much homogeneous, except possibly for minor differences based on gender?

I think there may be a flaw in your poll methodology.

If what you want to know is "how much of DU's active survey-responding readership is over 50, broken out by two specific genders" (I guess non-binary folk are... what... ?), you could make the survey shorter by just asking "Who's male and under 50?", "Who's female and under 50?", "Who's male and over 50?", and "Who's female and over 50?". That might get you a little more credibility among those of us in the four decade-cohorts 50 and over who are really quite non-homogeneous and not always happy about being relegated to the generic "old" category.

Maybe next poll?

helpfully,
Bright

[BluesRunTheGame]

38. I know most of us are over 50. I'm here almost every day. I read the posts. I think I have a pretty good sense...

…of our similarities and differences. I think most of us do.

I was simply curious about the breakdown of the people under 50.

[limbicnuminousity]

41. What?

Do you mean to say that there is no uniformly held set of beliefs and moral standards that we all ascribe to upon hitting 50? I'd swear the manual said something about achieving homogeneity by 35...or was that Logan's Run?

I think this may not be the right audience for polling the 20-30-something demographic.

[Earth-shine]

35. A lot of us in the senior cohort were in our 30s when we discovered DU.

Now I'm 59.

Unlike the poster directly above mine, I'm not at all insulted by this poll.

[TheBlackAdder]

40. Probably should be an internal survey, but nothing public that oppositions firms could leverage.

[bluedigger]

44. One thing is obvious.

We are not getting out enough on Saturday nights.

[DemocraticPatriot]

48. I made it to the nearest open convenience store after midnight,

before that I was asleep....

That was the extent of my 'getting out on Saturday night'!


LOL

[GoneOffShore]

49. Been here since Jun 3, 2002

Originally found DU via Truthout.

[BluesRunTheGame]

50. Kick

[Polybius]

54. IMO, there's a fatal flaw in this poll

You stop at 50's. Why? DU has a huge amount of members in their 60's, 70's, 80's, and even a few in their 90's. I'm 50 and I don't think my group should be last.

[BluesRunTheGame]

55. I didn't post the poll to find out who's here.

I was more curious about who isn’t here.

[Polybius]

56. I hear ya

I just wish that I was a year younger so I wouldn't have to be in the last group. I'm also curious as to how many are over 80.

[malaise]

57. We need some young peoples 😀

That is all

[Hope22]

61. We were the young people! 🤣😂

I translate the message to we ….need fewer old people. I’m not actually certain how we were let out of the house after the initial Covid shockwave! I do know my local League of Women Voters members are registering young people every week at the local High Schools!

[malaise]

62. That is great news

Thanks

[TBF]

63. Flaw is that Gen Z doesn't know what a message board is -

my kiddos would only see it if you acted your post out in video & put it up on Tik Tok!

[Elessar Zappa]

64. 40 years old, male.

I’ve been on this site since I was 19 in 2003.