By now, you've probably heard that young people overwhelmingly voted Barack Obama into the White House. But the majority of baby boomers and generation X also voted for Obama. In fact, the only age group that didn't prefer Obama were those age 65 and older, according to final pre-election estimates of likely voters by Gallup released today.
| Age | 2004 | 2004 | 2008 | 2008 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kerry | Bush | Obama | McCain | |
| Under 30 | 60 | 40 | 61 | 39 |
| 30-49 | 43 | 57 | 53 | 47 |
| 50-64 | 48 | 52 | 54 | 46 |
| 65 plus | 52 | 48 | 46 | 54 |
Source: final pre-election Gallup Poll of 3,050 likely voters
Both candidates courted the AARP set on the campaign trail, an age group that is particularly likely to show up on Election Day. But this Gallup Poll indicates that those 65 and older, who favored John Kerry in 2004 by a small margin, were the age group that threw the most support to John McCain this year. And, at least according to this poll, practically the same percentage of young people voted for Obama as for Kerry in 2004. It seems that baby boomers and generation X voters who turned out to give President Bush a second term either didn't show up this year for McCain or switched allegiance to Obama for reasons such as the economy.
Tell us your theories. Why did older Americans who voted Democratic in 2004 want to see McCain in the White House next year?
Reader Comments Read all comments (4)
Leanne of CA 1:55PM December 19, 2008
HillbillyBill of TN 7:18AM November 07, 2008
of 5:01PM November 06, 2008