You’ve probably noticed but I’ve been making some changes to the appearance of the blog. I’m not altogether happy with most of the themes wordpress provides. Sometime soon I will spend the time to create a custom one that fits, but for now bear with me.
Here are some facts I found while preparing to write about the nitty gritty of Hillsdale’s “What is America” Hostel (pg. 4):
- Republicans are getting older while the Democrats are getting younger. According to a recent Gallup pole that breaks down the party demographic trends, the majority of the Republican party is composed of seniors ~65+ years old, and Generation X-ers between 30-44 years of age. As for the democratic party, the majority of the party consists of Baby Boomers (between 45-63 years of age) and Generation Y (18-29 years of age). As a Generation Y-er I have some insights into these trends that I will share in a moment.
- In the 2008 election, President Barack Obama beat John McCain by a popular vote of 66,882,230 to 58,343,671. If that’s not a landslide, I don’t know what is.
- Democratic candidates are winning more of the independent and undecided vote then ever before. In 2008 Obama won 52% of independents compared to Kerry’s 49%.
- The Democratic party is INFINITELY better at mobilizing Americas young voting block. From pewresearch.com, “Nationally, a quarter of voters (25%) 18-29 say someone contacted them in person or by phone on behalf of the Obama campaign about coming out to vote. By contrast, just 13% were contacted by the McCain campaign.”
Pewresearch.com has a bunch of interesting studies on party demographics and the 2008/2004 election breakdowns. I highly recommend checking out the above links, and I’ll post a few more towards the end.
Also, for your reading pleasure:
From Pew Research Center: “Young voters differ most from older voters in their liberal views on the proper scope of government. Nearly seven-in-ten (69%) of voters ages 18-29 favor an expanded role for government, agreeing that it should do more to solve problems; fewer (27%) say the government is doing too many things better left to businesses and individuals. Opinion on this question is more closely divided among older age cohorts and a narrow plurality of those age 45 and older says government is doing too much.Young voters also stand out for their opinions on the Iraq war and offshore drilling. A wide 77%- majority of voters under age 30 disapprove of the U.S. war in Iraq, making them at least 15 points more negative on the war than older age groups. While the public as a whole disapproves of the war, opinion is less lopsided with 36% approving of the war. Young voters have soured considerably on the war over the past four years; in 2004, 52% approved of the original decision to use military force against Iraq, and at that time, young voters’ opinions mirrored those of the larger voting public.”
Links:
http://www.americanprogressaction.org/issues/2010/06/pdf/voter_demographics.pdf
http://www.americanprogressaction.org/issues/2010/06/pdf/voter_demographics.pdf
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