How Did Older Americans Vote?
By: Source: AARP Bulletin Today Date Posted: 2003-08-26 07:32:48
No one knows for sure. Complete exit-poll data on how various age groups voted in the midterm election aren't in, but opinion surveys suggest that 60-plus voters tilted Republican.
"All polls give the edge to the Republicans in 2002 [for winning that age group]," says Stan Greenberg, a partner with Greenberg, Quinlan, Rosner Research Inc. (GQR), a Democrat-oriented polling firm based in Washington.
In fact, a post-election survey of 2,647 voters, conducted by GQR, showed that 51 percent of 60-plus voters cast their ballots for Republicans, while 46 percent voted Democratic.
The vote represents a shift from the 2000 presidential election, when 51 percent of 60-plus voters chose Democrats while 47 percent picked GOP candidates.
Why the shift? "We've been through a difficult [time] on terrorism," Greenberg says. "Older voters tend to be stronger on defense and security issues. The president also gets credit for family values."
Nevertheless, "Democrats did carry 60-plus women," Greenberg says. "But Democrats lost the men. This reinforces the idea that security issues played a role in this election, with men taking the lead in tilting the election toward the GOP."
Voters ages 45 to 59 divided their votes evenly between Democrats and Republicans, the GQR survey found.
Each party got 48 percent of the vote from that group. In 2000, each party received 49 percent of the vote from voters ages 45 to 59.
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