This morning on NPR, I heard an interesting story about the generational gap in politics. Apparently, younger voters are turning into Democrats at an increasing rate, which will lead to a shift in American politics. A quote from the story stated that George W. Bush has turned young folk into Democrats in the same way that Reagan turned 'em into Republicans. I found it interesting that Republicans have the power in molding young minds, in either a negative or positive way. Apparently, this mind molding is strongest in twenty-somethings, as that is when a person's political mindset and loyalty are established.
The extension of this thought in the Democratic primaries, is that while race and gender are factors in the race between Obama and HRC, age is the biggest factor. Older voters tend to like Hilary, who is 60, while the youngsters like Obama, a youthful 46. In the mix of this is John McCain, who, if elected, would be the oldest first-term president. Is age a factor in presidential elections? I know the historical perspective (eh, kinda), but I'd like to know my loyal readers thoughts. Age before beauty?
4 comments:
Obama could have been in your voice countdown. Is that worth anything?
Are my choices limited to just age and beauty? I see lots of age but little beauty.
Ummm...
On the Dems side, I guess age is a factor only in so far as it contributes to a candidates appearance of wisdom and experience. At least that is how it would be if I was trying to choose.
On the other hand, for McCain, like Nixon in '60, the challenge will be to exude some degree of vitality as compared to either of his perspective competitors. It won't be that he is old (that's a given), it's whether he SEEMS old.
Well, dozing during the State of the Union probably won't help McCain. Age and beauty aren't your only choices, as beauty is probably not a factor in this race. Anyway, great comments!
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