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Senior Vote Growing Much Faster Than That of Younger
Voters
With senior population boom, could it become dominant
vote?
By Tucker Sutherland, editor,
SeniorJournal.com
Oct. 29, 2004 - An analysis of voting in the U.S.
since 1964 shows the percentage of all voters that are 65 or older is
growing steadily - 14.9 percent of all voters in '64 to 23.2 in
2002.
The senior advantage is particularly obvious in the
non-presidential year elections. This shows the consistency of senior
voters versus the younger voters who are only motivated in presidential
elections.
|
Percent of Voters 65 and Older |
|
|
|
Presidential |
Off-Year |
|
|
1964 |
14.9 |
|
|
|
1966 |
|
16.0 |
|
|
1968 |
15.4 |
|
|
|
1970 |
|
16.6 |
|
|
1972 |
14.9 |
|
|
|
1974 |
|
17.1 |
|
|
1976 |
15.8 |
|
|
|
1978 |
|
18.5 |
|
|
1980 |
16.8 |
|
|
|
1982 |
|
19.1 |
|
|
1984 |
17.7 |
|
|
|
1986 |
|
21.1 |
|
|
1988 |
19.4 |
|
|
|
1990 |
|
22.0 |
|
|
1992 |
19.0 |
|
|
|
1994 |
|
22.3 |
|
|
1996 |
20.4 |
|
|
|
1998 |
|
23.1 |
|
|
2000 |
20.0 |
|
|
|
2002 |
|
23.2 |
|
This table and the chart below show the percentage
of all voters in elections from 1964 through 2003 that were 65 years old
and older.
The seniors were almost one of every four voters in
2002, and one of every five in the last two presidential elections -
2000 and 1996.
The senior voting percentage grew from 14.9 in 1964
to 23.2 in 2002 - an increase of 55.7 percent. This was an average gain
of almost 3 percent every two years.
A projection of this growth clearly indicates
seniors will have an increasing influence in American voting. With no
change in the trend, they could even become the majority, especially
when the gigantic growth in the senior population is factored into the
projection.
The graph shows the percentage of the total vote by
senior citizens, with the presidential election years in blue and the
off-year elections in red.
|
Year |
65 up |
Under 65 |
Diff. |
|
|
1964 |
66.3 |
69.3 |
-3.0 |
|
|
1968 |
65.8 |
67.8 |
-2.0 |
|
|
1972 |
63.5 |
63.0 |
0.5 |
|
|
1976 |
62.2 |
59.2 |
3.0 |
|
|
1980 |
65.1 |
59.3 |
5.8 |
|
|
1984 |
67.7 |
59.9 |
7.8 |
|
|
1988 |
68.8 |
57.4 |
11.4 |
|
|
1992 |
70.1 |
61.3 |
8.8 |
|
|
1996 |
67.0 |
54.2 |
12.8 |
|
|
2000 |
67.6 |
54.7 |
12.9 |
|
An even more dramatic look at the growth in the
senior vote is shown in this table and the graph below, which shows the
percentage of seniors voting compared to the percentage of all eligible
voters that voted. For example, in 1964, 66.3 percent of seniors voted,
a lower number than the percent of all voters who voted, which was 69.3
percent. As depicted in the graph, in 1964 the percent of seniors voting
was three percentage points less that the percent of all voters.
This negative difference has made a remarkable
change by 2002, when the percent of seniors voting was 12.9 percentage
points above the percentage for all voters.
Copyright: SeniorJournal.com |
