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Elderly voters the biggest push behind the GOP wave
The Washington Independent ^ | 8 November 2010 | Jesse Zwick

Posted on 11/08/2010 8:00:40 AM PST by Racehorse

The election post-mortems keep rolling in. Politico's Byron Tau's report on the remarkable shift in voting patterns among America's oldest voters goes a long way to explain why last week's contest became such a rout for Republicans. Voters over 65, he writes, favored Republicans by a 21-point margin after breaking narrowly for Democrats in 2006, and in some key races the margin was even more lopsided:

In New Hampshire, for instance, seniors backed GOP Senate candidate Kelly Ayotte over her Democratic challenger by 33 points. In the narrow Illinois Senate contest, Republican Mark Kirk won older voters by 22 points. And In Delaware, they were the only age group to back tea party favorite Christine O'Donnell, by an 11-point margin.

"I've been saying since August 2009, that there was a tsunami — in this case a senior citizen tsunami — headed towards Capitol Hill," said Jim Martin, chairman of the 60 Plus Association, a conservative campaign group targeted toward older voters. "That tsunami came ashore."


(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonindependent.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Front Page News; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2010; 2010election; 2010midterms; democrats; elderly; elections; gop; voters
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1 posted on 11/08/2010 8:00:43 AM PST by Racehorse
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To: Racehorse

Its too bad the AARP and other organizations are not on their side.


2 posted on 11/08/2010 8:05:09 AM PST by GeronL (http://libertyfic.proboards.com <--- My Fiction/ Science Fiction Board)
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To: Racehorse

Elders generally have a great more wisdom....don’t they? ;-)


3 posted on 11/08/2010 8:06:25 AM PST by SumProVita (Cogito, ergo...Sum Pro Vita. (Modified Decartes))
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To: Racehorse

Well, it shows that we’re still vital. : )


4 posted on 11/08/2010 8:06:47 AM PST by mia
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To: Racehorse; onyx; P-Marlowe

The figured out that “death panels” were real in Obamacare. We truly do have Sarah Palin to thank for this easy soundbite term.

The rape of medicare is also real, so that got their attention as well.

In short, they have weighed Obamacare in the balance and found it deadly to Seniors.


5 posted on 11/08/2010 8:10:52 AM PST by xzins (Retired Army Chaplain & proud of it: Truly Supporting the Troops means praying for their Victory!)
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To: Racehorse

The Dems ‘owned’ the senior vote until recently. The elderly who spent decades voting for FDR by any other name have now passed on. The “Republicans will take your Social Security” ruse Dems pulled out in every election just won’t work any more.

I wouldn’t say this generation of seniors are in the Republican camp so much as that they are open to voting for either party. The GOP shouldn’t take them for granted now as a constituent group, as the Dems did.


6 posted on 11/08/2010 8:11:26 AM PST by EDINVA
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To: Racehorse
Terrible news. It means that the recent congressional wins are very fragile in the long term.

Something needs to be done to inspire the young.

7 posted on 11/08/2010 8:17:43 AM PST by GeorgeSaden
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To: xzins

Tim Wise at Kos put the death panels into perspective with his diatribe, he considers death as the ultimate weapon of the Left.


8 posted on 11/08/2010 8:20:00 AM PST by junta (S.C.U.M. = State Controlled Unreliable Media)
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To: Racehorse

One thing about old people, they weren’t raised to hate America.


9 posted on 11/08/2010 8:27:03 AM PST by Lancey Howard
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To: SumProVita

Well...plenty of them voted ‘for’ the piece of crap that now resides in the WH. I’d like to see those figures


10 posted on 11/08/2010 8:27:09 AM PST by Outlaw Woman (No Compromise!)
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To: GeorgeSaden

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_States

There were 155.6 million females in the United States in 2009. The number of males was 151.4 million.

At age 85 and older, there were more than twice as many women as men. People under 20 years of age made up over a quarter of the U.S. population (27.3%),

and people age 65 and over made up one-eighth (12.8%) in 2009.

____________________________________________________________
Women in the workforce since 1935 (SS created) are working & living longer than their husbands - contributed to, & now dependent on SS and Medicare. Elderly women are voting their interests and those of their grandchildren.


11 posted on 11/08/2010 8:28:03 AM PST by sodpoodle (Despair; man's surrender. Laughter; God 's redemption.)
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To: Racehorse

ironically, because older people are the among the people who get the most socialist benefits-—social security, medicare etc etc


12 posted on 11/08/2010 8:29:58 AM PST by ChurtleDawg (voting only encourages them)
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To: Racehorse

I guess 39 and 40 year olds are elderly now... I knew I felt old when I turned 39... What a load of BULL!


13 posted on 11/08/2010 8:30:34 AM PST by crazydad
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To: EDINVA
The Dems ‘owned’ the senior vote until recently. The elderly who spent decades voting for FDR by any other name have now passed on.

I just took a look at presidential elections back to 1968 and it doesn't look that way to me, do you have some figures to support that? They usually vote Republican except for 1992,1996, and 2000.

14 posted on 11/08/2010 8:30:34 AM PST by ansel12
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To: Racehorse
Elderly voters the biggest push behind the GOP wave.
I live along the shore of Lake Ontario and recently the brainwashing of the young was never more evident. A few months ago, standing outside a local restaurant was a mid 50s guy with a clipboard.
I watched as some diners took the clipboard and signed, every one of them was "older", while all the others, the "young", just shook their heads no and walked away.
Turns out the man was asking for signatures on a petition to block the installation of wind turbines in the lake.
While the county hasn't decided yea or nay yet, every town council that resides on the lake front has voted no.
15 posted on 11/08/2010 8:31:53 AM PST by oh8eleven (RVN '67-'68)
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To: Outlaw Woman
Well...plenty of them voted ‘for’ the piece of crap that now resides in the WH. I’d like to see those figures

Seniors were the most Republican age group in 2008, they voted against Obama by a wide margin.

16 posted on 11/08/2010 8:34:50 AM PST by ansel12
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To: Racehorse
Hmmm, old people vote Republican... Dems want ObamaCare to have ‘death panels’... to off the old. Connections?
17 posted on 11/08/2010 8:35:50 AM PST by GOPJ ('Power abdicates only under the stress of counter-power." Martin Buber /a Tea-nami's coming..)
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To: ansel12

Do you have any figures handy that you could post?


18 posted on 11/08/2010 8:38:24 AM PST by Outlaw Woman (No Compromise!)
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To: Outlaw Woman

Yes, you are correct. The very fact that they voted for the most PRO-abortion (among other things) president in the history of this nation demonstrates the problem. Good Pope Benedict is well aware that many who call themselves CATHOLIC are not properly catechized and have a great need to understand how to enter into an intimate relationship with Christ and become His followers as members of the Church. That is why he is calling for a re-evangelization of Catholics within the context of highlighting the fact that we are called to evangelize. This is for the worldwide Church. He is preparing an important encyclical on this, which I look forward to with great anticipation.

There IS a renewal going on within the Church (unknown by the press) that is already beginning to turn things around (think REPENTANCE). This will grow with TIME.

;-))


19 posted on 11/08/2010 8:44:19 AM PST by SumProVita (Cogito, ergo...Sum Pro Vita. (Modified Decartes))
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To: Outlaw Woman

Oops...I got your post confused with another one. Apologies.

;-/


20 posted on 11/08/2010 8:46:16 AM PST by SumProVita (Cogito, ergo...Sum Pro Vita. (Modified Decartes))
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