I have an honest question for older DUers (not a criticism in any way)

[scheming daemons]

Obviously, if you are over 65 and active at this site, then you are a wise older person.

My question is.... please explain to me how such a large percentage of your generation votes Republican.


I don't get it.


After being around to see Nixon, Reagan, and both Bushes... the Strom Thurmonds and Jesse Helms... The Lee Atwaters, Frank Luntzs, and Karl Roves....
Why do so many people over 65 vote for Republicans, why?


I am asking the older DUers... somehow *YOU* get it about Republicans. Why do nearly 60% of your contemporaries *NOT* get it?



I'm 43. I can't imagine ever voting for conservatives in this country. Most of the people I know wouldn't either.



I just want to know what makes such a large majority of older people lose their minds? Is it that they more easily succumb to fear since they are closer to the end of their lives?


I know there are plenty of over-65 DUers who can shed some light onto this.... when you're hanging out with your contemporaries, what do they say? What makes them vote against their own self interests (and their nation's best interests) in such large numbers?

[CTyankee]

1. For the same reason some women vote against their best interests and some of the working poor

of any age vote against their best interests.

[gateley]

2. And I have a question for my not-so-older DUers my age (57) -- How come

so many from our generation -- Peace, Love, Woodstock -- became Republicans?

And, in 1990 I owned an espresso shop and kids would come by who would be about the age of mine if I'd had any, and there were too many who were skinheads, racist... I honestly couldn't think of ANYBODY I knew during my years as part of the Love Generation who would teach their kids anything but acceptance and kindness. :shrug:

[Romulox]

28. Shaved head = / = skinhead

I doubt that many racist skinheads were hanging out at your espresso shop.

"and there were too many who were skinheads, racist..."

How do you know they were racists? :shrug:

[gateley]

34. Since I was going out with a guy w/a shaved head at the time, I don't think

I bought into that stereotype. Swastika tattoos, calling someone walking by a N....., racist t-shirts, things like that. I'm not an old fart who thinks the younger generation is out of control. I don't tsk tsk at green hair or back then, mohawks, body piercings and the like. I love that every generation expresses its individuality and basically goes its own way - as my generation did. I just was surprised and hurt that my fellow generation could raise children full of hate and anger.

[Gormy Cuss]

3. I'm not in that demographic but I have an honest answer for you: they're not alone.

In fact, even people in your age cohort vote Republican in astoundingly high numbers.
See here for one set of tables on this week's election:

http://2010central.gallup.com/2010/06/obama-age-and-2010-vote.html

[scheming daemons]

4. But not a majority.... all the age groups under 65 are 50-50 or lean Dem....

..only the over 65 voters are heavily Republican.

[Gormy Cuss]

5. Please read the link.

The second table with voter preference by party and age group shows 48% of the oldest group and 45% of your age cohort favoring Republicans for Congress. The only age cohort with majority Democratic support were the 18-29 year olds.

Do you have a link to election results that shows voters over age 65 went majority Republican in numbers more significant than the 30-49 and 50-64 age cohorts?

[BeFree]

6. Just asking for trouble, eh?

How dare you question the over 65?

[mstinamotorcity]

36. Be Free we saw

the lock.

[Warpy]

7. I'm not quite that old, but I am close enough to have observed them

all my life. These are people who came of age in the 50s and early 60s. They married soon out of high school, in college or not. They served in a peacetime military and had no reason at all to doubt any of the BS they were fed in boot camp. They tied themselves down with kids, the dog, the mortgage and everything else as soon as they could.

Then the mid 60s arrived and the party started and they were left out of it, horrified on the sidelines as all the rules seemed to change overnight. Suddenly, all the lines that separated the sexes and the races started to blur and they didn't know where they stood any more.

It's pretty obvious to me why they became conservative and stayed conservative, why they blame women and people of color for the economy that seemed to hit them a little harder every single year, and why they were suckers for charlatans that promised them prosperity through tax cuts, never mentioning the wealth inequality that would leave them as serfs. It also explains why they're suckers for social conservatism, wanting all the borders that were erased in the 60s to be put back: women in the kitchen, people of color pushing brooms, and white males on top of the world again.

I've been the fly on the wall listening to these people all my life, their funny equations, their false assumptions, and their rage at a world that changed in unpredictable ways. They are completely incapable of admitting they got sold a bad bill of goods when they were growing up and that it was good that opportunities were opened up for people who weren't white and male.

Their rebels, however, were truly outstanding, some of the best lefties this country has ever seen. There were just too few of them to make a difference against the conservative tide.

[BeFree]

14. You nailed it, Warpy

In a nutshell it is: I got mine, too bad for you.

They really do hate the way America has evolved.

[RobinA]

32. Kinda Disagree

My father, aged 77, came of age in the '40's and '50's. He served in the Vietnam War, but not in Vietnam. He is a Dr., so he was drafted older than your average foot soldier. He knows he was fed lies by The Man, and that Man was Lyndon Johnson, whom he hates beyond all reason.

Agree about the best lefties. They are the REAL lefties, now in their '70's. Some truly committed people who walked the walk. I admire these people and shed a tear when yet another one dies, because they are not being replaced.

[sinkingfeeling]

8. Fear. Every ad run by John Boozman in Arkansas started with the myth that the Dems were cutting

$500 billion from Medicare to pay for 'Obamacare'.

By the way, what is your source that 60% of those over 65 are Republicans?

[dixiegrrrrl]

19. Agreed

[OHdem10]

9. Peace be unto you all.

First of all the Gop is the party of the Affluent(Rich).
So a certain percent of older people are automatically
Republicans. The affluent older people. These are
the Republican's constituents.

In the Presidential Election Obama did not do as
well with the older generation even as Hilary.
Older Women knew the hardships women had to endure
to make it as far as Hilary so she was their pride
and joy.

Some of these moved over to Obama. Simply because
he is younger, they were concerned about his experience
but they give him their vote.

When Obama appointed the The Budget Deficit Commission.
right in front of the Cameras he answered a question by
say Social Security is on the Table. That afternoon
Stenny Hoyer holds a presser and very authoritatively
says SS is on the table. This implied Cuts in SS.

Within a week many older people had left OBAMA according
to the polls.
The Democratic Party had always been the Party to protect
SS. This was seen as a betrayal.

Most of us here are more steeped in information is the
reason we hand on, I guess.

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. Democrats want to kill grandma...

Dead Panels...

Fear works.

Yes, it is that fucking simple.

And democrats better learn to use fear too.

Republicans destroy the VA

Republicans love Corporations

Republicans will take your SS away.

Republicans will take your Medicare.

Most voters do work at that level.

[Bitwit1234]

11. Well I am 77 and the only republicans I know that are over

65 are my three sisters. Every single solitary positively one is Democrat. One sister's husband owned a business and wanted to stop it from forming a union...her reason I know. One sister is prejudiced against black people. And the other's husband is a real estate owner and belongs to the US Chamber of Commerce and has for 20 years. That's why they are republicans. As I said the only republicans I know and they had to be relatives.

[Uncle Joe]

12. I'm not over 65, but where do you believe most of the people over 65 get their information?

I will give you a clue, it starts with corporate and ends with media.

Thanks for the thread, scheming daemons.

[riderinthestorm]

16. +1. They are Faux News fans and since they are retired, they have a lot of time to

be propagandized. That in combination with their fear of the evolving demographic landscape towards people of color in our country, takes them over the brink into being a Rethug.

There is a percentage as well that are simply selfish - they got theirs so screw the rest of us. My own mother is a tea bagger Rethug and just told me a few days ago that she doesn't want to be funding the educations of anyone else's children! Education - the bedrock of a civil society! Thanksgiving is gonna be terrible this year.... I'm going to have a very hard time keeping my mouth shut if she starts it.

[Uncle Joe]

26. Yes, but it's even more than Faux News, the broadcast networks are for the most part

warm and friendlier versions of Faux News.

The corporate media has one thing in common regardless of the network and that's the rule of agency, they're primarily agents with De Facto fiduciary loyalty to their corporate owners and/or commercial buying corporate clients.

Simply put, you can't represent the best interests of two opposing parties at the same time, in this case you either represent the best interests of the people/public or the best interests of corporations.

The people are just customers; to be sold a product, candidate or down the river, and after spending hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars and decades of research, there is one art/science which the corporate media has perfected, that's selling.

The corporate media has for far too long carried Republican talking points as if they were the best, legitimate or only political point of view and it's done consciously (or to give them the extreme benefit of doubt, subconsciously) to promote the interests of corporations over the peoples' best interests and natural agent; that being elective/representative government, aka; "We the People."

The corporate media's implicit/explicit message of privatizing everything under the sun to be the best policy, match's up perfectly with the Republican agenda and few average Americans question the corporate media's blatant conflict of interest in this, in large part because as information providers; the corporate media establishes reality for those people

I believe the Internet will change this one sided, top down dynamic and so does the Republicans and their corporate media propaganda machine, that's why they're attacking Net Neutrality and giving us the corporate supremacist loving Citizens United vs FEC decision.

The new version of an old joke should be "I'm from the corporation and I'm here to help."

[yella_dawg]

13. One word: Propaganda

It is ubiquitous in our society. So common you don't even notice it any more. The older folks remember a time when government served the people, and they yearn for a time when government worked. Understand, I'm talking appearances here, not fact. Older folks are perfect targets for propaganda.

[elleng]

17. Don't know that any more perfect targets than others,

MY friends and relations aren't, but otherwise, you're absitively, posolutely correct, been saying this for ages, repugs have mastered the art of propaganda, dems haven't bothered, and here we are.

Thanks

[lamp_shade]

15. Good question. I live not far from a large retirement community south of Tampa... population 19000,

98.96% white, 83% age 65 and over. There are dozens of retirement homes, assisted living places, senior centers, community centers, rec centers, nursing homes and other gathering places. My neighbor (the reverand, a devout democrat) visits these places daily as part of his job. It infuriates him that if there's a television in the room, it's often tuned to Fox and although he feels free to change the channel, most others don't. Whoever runs these places is flipping on the TV first thing in the morning and setting it on Fox.

My mother, another devout life-long democrat, passed away 3 years ago at age 83. A couple of years before that, she started criticizing democrats and applauding Bush and his republicans. I was baffled, because she had all her senses and was sharp as a tack. The next time I went to visit her, she was watching Fox News. I asked what the hell that was all about and she said "John told me it's the best place to get the real news". John is her SIL. She adored him and hung on his every word. He's a really nice guy, but a RABID republican. I straightened her out REAL FAST and I don't think she ever watched Fox again.

[DevonRex]

18. They came up in a time when the news could be believed, for the most part.

My Dem father-in-law and his wife still tend to believe what's on cable "news." They are honest people who assume others are honest, too.

[hayu_lol]

20. Dunno...one reason may be that older folks who are affluent...

tend to vote Repug. I'm 75, Korean Vet, poor, am a rabid LIBERAL.

What happened to the enthusiastic young in this election...large number failed to vote.

What happened to the gay community...large increase of them went Repug.

Others as you see fit.

Don't paint seniors with such a large brush.

[DevonRex]

22. My in-laws are also Democrats. nt

[elocs]

21. Fear, greed, envy. All rolled together to make the YOYO philosophy.

Fear that they will lose what they have or that it will be taken from them and given to someone they perceive is less deserving.

Greed goes along with fear. They are afraid of losing what they have and they don't want to share what they have either and they want more, and even with more they don't want to help others either.

Envy is what they have in common with other Republican/freeper types. They resent that anyone else gets anything that they believe they should be getting, but aren't.

All of these ingredients go into making their YOYO (You're On Your Own) philosophy and this is what makes them Republicans.

[Karenina]

23. One word: DEMOGRAPHICS

Hint: Check the numbers of how many were WHERE and it will give you a new perspective. It was a MINORITY of us in mostly urban settings whose narrative is most often presented as suppe du jour.

[jkshaw]

24. I'm 80 and grew up during

the Great Depression. My father, a machinist at a shipyard he'd worked at for years, following his father and uncles in the same shipyard, walked the streets for years looking for work. At last, thanks to FDR, ships started coming in and he was hired back. He worked in a dangerous environment and was even then, in 1934, suffering from early tuberculosis. He and my mother no sooner got back on their feet than they died, my mother from cancer, and both from lack of health care. In effect, they died from the Great Depression. I was ten when my father died, 12 when my mother died.

The people in the baby boom generation grew up in prosperous times after the Second World War, the GI Bill, and the jobs and benefits brought about by the unions and the forty-some years of Democratic legislation. They got the impression jobs and benefits and college educations were their right. They thought unions were asking too much for their workers. They had two cars, some had second homes, who needs the government. They pulled themselves up into affluence by their own efforts, see? Pardon my cynicism. Many of these people had parents into their old age, they're living in a fantasy land.

And there's your group of sixty-plus conservatives. They feel affluent, so they join the conservatives because they want to keep their affluence. But they have a helluva defective memory of United States political history.

[the redcoat]

25. I think it's religion

People get more religious as they get older, and Republicans love to loudly align themselves with skewed religious principles.

At least that's the connection I make. If you've ever seen the documentary "Religulous," Bill Maher has a comment that stuck with me, something to the effect of "People are able to think rationally in all aspects of life until they walk into a church"

[Catherina]

27. 62 percent of white non-college graduates voted for Republican candidates

Nationwide, 58 percent of voters 65 and over voted Republican while 40 percent voted Democratic. That's a new high for Republicans, who can now boast about receiving the highest number of votes from seniors, men, and a new demographic-blue collar voters.

Traditionally, blue collar voters are thought to prefer Democrats. In 2010, this changed, with 62 percent of white non-college graduates voting for Republican candidates and 35 percent choosing Democrats. This is the highest ever blue collar vote for the GOP.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/11/04/exit-polls-

republicans-set-record-numbers/

[Pathwalker]

29. They're still pissed about Vietnam. They blame LBJ for it.

Then, they fell in love with Reagan. IOW, they're the stupid ones.

[RobinA]

30. I'm Not Old

by your definition (52), but my parents are, and I can answer this. There was a time when Republican was a viable alternative. Hell, I voted for Ford. My parents, who aren't politically active but they do know the basics, still think these Repubs are like their Repubs (Eisenhower). They don't get the whole "winger" thing and when I try to explain it they don't believe it. They aren't paying enough attention. I talk about stem cells and they (a doctor and a nurse) just look at me. They don't get that basically Republican has become the party of stupid. If you quizzed them on just attitudes they'd be solidly liberal, but don't tell them that. "liberal" to them is one step away from "Communism" and fear of Communism has been drilled into their heads irreparably.

[Peacetrain]

31. Some of us are about as politcally astute as a bag of hammers..

Not quite there yet but getting close.. and the people 5-7 years older than me are incredibly conservative.. as are people 10-15 years younger than me.. there was another great big wave of conservs.. Alex P Keaton types..

We tend to trend up and down on a 10 year cycle.

[Hubert Flottz]

33. I'm 60 and...

I have NEVER voted for a republican...I have voted for DINOS who were the lesser of two weasels, but I have NEVER voted for a republican or and indy!

There may come a time that I'd switch over to a Labor Party.

[young_at_heart]

35. I'm 71 and I don't understand people in my age group

Maybe it's because I spent most of my life in California which tends to be more liberal. From personal experience I can say that some "friends" who are die-hard Republicans are really closet racists and others identify prosperity with the GOP. We have some interesting discussions at times.