We all had a good laugh when elderly Tea Partiers last summer barnstormed political meetings to denounce federal spending and warn members of Congress "to keep the government out of my Medicare."
But it seems grumpy grand folks are nothing to laugh at. I was reminded of this by the NY Times last Sunday which ran an inside analysis piece by political reporter Matt Bai headlined "Beneath Divides Seemingly About Race Are Generational Fault Lines."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/18/us/politics/18bai.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=Bai&st=nyt
The alleged racism within the ranks of the Tea Party, Bai proposes, may be in large part the inevitable result of the less-than-progressive views on race held by many older Americans at a time when polling finds the elderly most sympathetic to the Tea Party's rhetoric.
But that's just the beginning, he writes.
"Older Americans now - no longer the New Deal generation but the generation that remembers Vietnam, gas lines and forced bussing - are less enamored of expensive government than their parents were. They fear changes in their own entitlement programs, even as they denounce the explosion in federal spending. They are less optimistic about the high-tech economy, more fearful of the impact of immigration and free trade."
A lot of younger Americans - especially those who are jobless right now - must find it odd that the generation most protected from the worst of the recession by Social Security and Medicare and state and federal tax breaks would be the group most upset with the state of the nation. Yet, as one myself, I can attest there's plenty for us old coots to be angry about. It's great when the check shows up in the mail each month but it's every day that you have to deal with the inevitable aches and dislocations and insults that accompany aging. (What insults? Ask grandpa.)
Hummingbird and I, for example, got downright grumpy reading an article in Tuesday's Dispatch about a horrible new idea called the back yard "accessory dwellings," otherwise known as the "granny pod." Here's the link but if you're over 65, better skip it. It will just make you mad.
In his Times article, Bai refers to Pew Research Center findings that "there is nearly a 20-point spread between Mr. Obama's approval ratings among voters younger than 30 and those older than 65." As you might guess, the oldsters as a group didn't support Obama in 2008 and haven't warmed up to him since.
Not surprisingly, another Pew poll last month found that it's the older Republicans who now are the biggest promoters of change, not only in the Oval Office but in Congress as well.
http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1615/seniors-negative-congress-incumbents-older-gop-anti-compromise
"Anti-incumbent sentiment also is more widespread among Republicans and GOP leaners older than age 50 (50% less likely to vote for an incumbent) than those younger than age 50 (37%).
About four-in-ten Republicans and Republican-leaning independents ages 65 and older (43%) say they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who has never held elective office; 29% say they would be less likely to vote for a political novice and 21% say it would make no difference. Republicans younger than age 50 are more divided -- 28% say they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who never held elective office, 27% say less likely and 42% no difference.
Among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, age differences are evident, though less pronounced."
Unfortunately, Pew didn't ask whether this anti-incumbent mood was just important in the party primaries or whether it might result in significant numbers of unhappy oldsters changing their party preferences in the general election.
My guess is this might be a factor in primary voting but that you won't see many testy tea-bag Republicans voting Democratic in November or many long-in-the-tooth liberals deserting to the GOP.
Of more concern to candidates is which seniors are energized this year by their discontent, and which are just discouraged and won't bother to vote.
I wish I had some good advice about all this for our candidates here in Licking County. But all I can say is treat your older voters as you would your own parents or grandparents: with respect, regardless of their views, and with the understanding that it's probably not really you they're angry about.
-- David Lore
COMING UP!
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