On Election Day 2008, Obama will be 47 and McCain will be 72. The AARP is considered the most powerful lobby and the baby boomers are pushing retirement age.
Can this make a difference in the next election?
Will this make a difference in the next election?
I think it depends whom AARP endorses, not the candidates’ ages. I don’t pick a doctor based on her age, but on her expertise. Same goes for presidents.
Susan, AARP member
To be clear, John McCain isn’t actually a baby boomer (having been born before WWII); he’s a member of the Silent Generation. Clinton is the only actually babyboomer running (Obama’s Generation X).
I didn’t join AARP when I was first eligible, at age 50. I wasn’t retired yet, for one thing. I joined when they could save me twice my membership fee on a hotel stay. I’m 58, now. AARP’s style is usually not to back candidates. They lobby the ones who got elected to (usually) help old people.
If you meant that voters of that age group might tip the balance in this year’s election, it’s possible. We are many, and we vote. I don’t think we vote as a bloc, though.