# Why are senior citizens turning against the GOP? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 12, 2013, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-senior-citizens-turning-against-the-gop/666036 "2013-08-12T13:49:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-senior-citizens-turning-against-the-gop/666036/41 "2013-08-12T22:15:41Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Silents grew up in the America of the “Christian consensus,” now long gone, and of Jim Crow, and more-than-occasional wedding-night virgins, and doctors who smoked while examining you, and all the rest of it. It should also be pointed out though that the so-called Silents are inaptly named, because the musicians, poets, artists, and other cultural leaders (like Abbie Hoffman and Bobby Seale) that we remember from the Sixties were not Boomers but mostly from that generation that preceded the boom. The Boomers at Woodstock were not on stage but just anonymous masses out in the mud. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-senior-citizens-turning-against-the-gop/666036/42 "2013-08-12T22:29:56Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > No doubt. But the poll is comparing the population now to the population two years ago, not 33 years ago. I think you misunderstood his point. He compared today’s 65 year olds to Reagan’s _65-year olds_, not the then-octagenarians. He’s comparing the ‘freshman class’ of today’s 65ers to the now-senior class that are today dying off, who used to be freshmen in 1984. In other words, you have to compare the political beliefs of those coming into the poll (now 65) to those leaving it (85ish), not to those just two years older than them. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-senior-citizens-turning-against-the-gop/666036/43 "2013-08-12T22:36:10Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > It should also be pointed out though that the so-called Silents are inaptly named, because the musicians, poets, artists, and other cultural leaders (like Abbie Hoffman and Bobby Seale) that we remember from the Sixties were not Boomers but mostly from that generation that preceded the boom. The Boomers at Woodstock were not on stage but just anonymous masses out in the mud. Well, [Strass & Howe didn’t coin that one.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Generation) > [@](#): > > The label “Silent Generation” was first coined in the November 5, 1951, cover story of Time to refer to the generation coming of age at the time, born during the Great Depression and World War II, including the bulk of those who fought during the Korean War. The article found its characteristics as grave and fatalistic, conventional, possessing confused morals, expecting disappointment but desiring faith, and for women, desiring both a career and a family.[2] The article stated: “Youth today is waiting for the hand of fate to fall on its shoulders, meanwhile working fairly hard and saying almost nothing. The most startling fact about the younger generation is its silence. With some rare exceptions, youth is nowhere near the rostrum. By comparison with the Flaming Youth of their fathers & mothers, today’s younger generation is a still, small flame. It does not issue manifestos, make speeches or carry posters. It has been called the ‘Silent Generation’.” > > The phrase gained further currency after William Manchester’s comment that members of this generation were “withdrawn, cautious, unimaginative, indifferent, unadventurous and silent.”[3]The name was used by Strauss and Howe in their book Generations as their designation for that generation in the United States born from 1925 to 1942.[4] The generation is also known as the Postwar Generation and the Seekers, when it is not neglected altogether and placed by marketers in the same category as the G.I. or “Greatest” Generation. But the name fits well into S&H’s theory, as they classify the Silents as [an “Artist” generation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strauss%E2%80%93Howe_generational_theory#Artist) in their cycle of four types. Artists get things done – quietly. > [@](#): > > **Artist** generations are born _after an Unraveling, during a Crisis,_ a time when great dangers cut down social and political complexity in favor of public consensus, aggressive institutions, and an ethic of personal sacrifice. Artists grow up overprotected by adults preoccupied with the Crisis, come of age as the socialized and conformist young adults of a post-Crisis world, break out as process-oriented midlife leaders during an Awakening, and age into thoughtful post-Awakening elders.[44] > > Due to their location in history, such generations tend to be remembered for their quiet years of rising adulthood and their midlife years of flexible, consensus-building leadership. Their main societal contributions are in the area of _expertise_ and _due process._ Their best-known historical leaders include William Shirley, Cadwallader Colden, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, and Theodore Roosevelt. These have been complex social technicians and advocates for fairness and inclusion. (Examples among today’s living generations: Silent and Homelanders.)[45] Not that they’re **all** silent . . . TR was notably noisy . . . ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-senior-citizens-turning-against-the-gop/666036/44 "2013-08-12T22:48:27Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > In 10 years, the common room of every retirement home in Florida will be draped in tie-dye and reeking of “incense,” with Jimi Hendrix playing on the PA . . . Ah yes, Rudy Rucker’s Pheezers… (freaky geezers) ---
**Author:** ![NotDeadYet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NotDeadYet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NotDeadYet)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-senior-citizens-turning-against-the-gop/666036/45 "2013-08-13T03:45:24Z")
When it comes to social issues I believe much of the shift is due to a more open society where gays are out of the closet and cohabitation prior to (instead of) marriage becomes more common. Seniors realize that anti-gay measures have a real impact on someone in their own family and that even though it was unheard of in their day, marriage and childbirth are not required. I’m retired, but don’t consider myself to be a sr citizen :). My children and grandchildren and their well being has caused a shift in my political views. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-senior-citizens-turning-against-the-gop/666036/46 "2013-08-13T09:16:11Z")
I wonder how the change breaks down, elderly women vs elderly men. Either way it’s very good news that suddenly makes me optimistic. Seniors are probably much slower than the young to follow news closely or to grasp nuance. But they do have much accumulated wisdom and compassion: If they’ve finally caught on to Republican malice and hypocrisy, perhaps we should hope this dark episode in American politics will be put behind us in the not-too-distant future. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-senior-citizens-turning-against-the-gop/666036/47 "2013-08-13T12:23:12Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > Those turning 65 now are from the Viet Nam generation, they were counter-culture in the 1960’s, anti-authoritarian in nature, lived through Tricky Dick, voted in Carter suffered through Reagan, voted in Clinton, and then Gore (it didn’t stick - curious that), and Obama. So, now they are “turning away from the GOP”??? Escept, half of them spent those times wearing nice short haircuts, wearing suits and slacks, graduating in 4 years or going straight to work and marriage and a Chevy Nova, instead of doing the “counter culture” trip. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-senior-citizens-turning-against-the-gop/666036/48 "2013-08-13T13:57:37Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > Escept, half of them spent those times wearing nice short haircuts, wearing suits and slacks, graduating in 4 years or going straight to work and marriage and a Chevy Nova, instead of doing the “counter culture” trip. And every decade since then looking back and kicking themselves. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![WillFarnaby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/willfarnaby/32/514_2.png) [@WillFarnaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillFarnaby)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-senior-citizens-turning-against-the-gop/666036/49 "2013-08-13T14:33:12Z")
Senior citizens are old people with old ideas on how do to do things. They have been subject to more pro-government propaganda than any other group. They watch the news on tv. Which is chock full of pro-establishment bias (including Fox News). They have been taught their entire lives that civil society is created by government and should be manipulated by the “experts” in charge. Democrats tap into the senior citizens’ love of fascist New Deal ideas which are old as dirt now. Democrats are basically running on iterations of Wilsonian foreign policy and Rooseveltian economic policy, with some Huey Long rhetoric thrown in for good measure. Of course the oldest group in the country is going to move to the Democrats as the GOP moves toward a position of reforming the system old folks love so much. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-senior-citizens-turning-against-the-gop/666036/50 "2013-08-13T14:51:31Z")
> [@WillFarnaby](#): > > Senior citizens are old people with old ideas on how do to do things. They have been subject to more pro-government propaganda than any other group. They watch the news on tv. Which is chock full of pro-establishment bias (including Fox News). They have been taught their entire lives that civil society is created by government and should be manipulated by the “experts” in charge. Democrats tap into the senior citizens’ love of fascist New Deal ideas which are old as dirt now. Democrats are basically running on iterations of Wilsonian foreign policy and Rooseveltian economic policy, with some Huey Long rhetoric thrown in for good measure. Of course the oldest group in the country is going to move to the Democrats as the GOP moves toward a position of reforming the system old folks love so much. If the over-65 vote really does shift towards the Dems by six points, there won’t be many Republican’s in office to reform much of anything. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-senior-citizens-turning-against-the-gop/666036/51 "2013-08-13T15:07:56Z")
> [@WillFarnaby](#): > > . . . fascist New Deal ideas . . . :rolleyes: FDR was no more a fascist than you are. ---
**Author:** ![WillFarnaby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/willfarnaby/32/514_2.png) [@WillFarnaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillFarnaby)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-senior-citizens-turning-against-the-gop/666036/52 "2013-08-13T19:31:28Z")
Mussolini disagrees with you. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-senior-citizens-turning-against-the-gop/666036/53 "2013-08-13T19:59:08Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > In 10 years, the common room of every retirement home in Florida will be draped in tie-dye and reeking of “incense,” with Jimi Hendrix playing on the PA . . . With all deference to those already in, or facing admission to retirement homes who might willingly reenter the workforce in exchange for some youth & vigor–I am _so_ ready to make that trade. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-senior-citizens-turning-against-the-gop/666036/54 "2013-08-13T20:48:24Z")
> [@WillFarnaby](#): > > Mussolini disagrees with you. So **now** you believe Mussolini? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-senior-citizens-turning-against-the-gop/666036.md?page=2)