Senior Citizens Most Adamant that There is Too Much
Hostility, Partisanship in Washington
They say their contemporary, McCain, best to fix it;
younger voters say its Obama
July
13, 2008 A large majority in the U.S., 60 percent, believe there is a
great deal of hostility and political partisanship in Washington, D.C.,
but the oldest Americans, those age 63 and older, are adamant on this
issue. A recent Harris Interactive survey found 78% of these Matures
see it as a problem.
There was no other age group even close to the
seniors in the percentage that see a lot of hostility and partisanship
in Washington politics.
Harris also found that older people are more likely
to choose one of their own senior citizen John McCain as the
potential president that could be more successful in reducing hostility.
But, this was a relatively close choice with 33% choosing the Republican
senator and 29% picking Democratic Senator Barack Obama.
As in so many polls, the seniors again to appear
out of step with younger voters. Among voters of all ages, 37% say Obama
can best stop the partisanship, while just 25% say it is McCain.
With each U.S. presidential candidate claiming that
they can reduce the hostility in Washington, D.C., a new Harris Poll of
2,454 U.S. adults and 1,009 Canadian adults surveyed online by Harris
Interactiveฎ between June 9 and 16, 2008 suggests that there is a very
large amount of hostility that needs to be reduced. Specifically:
Older Boomers most likely to support McCain after
favoring Obama in April; Pew Research finds McCain's Negatives Mostly
Political, Obama's More Personal -
June 10, 2008
Some of the other highlights of the analysis
released July 10:
● Three in five Americans (60%)
believe there is a great deal of hostility and political partisanship in
Washington, D.C. with Republicans even more likely than Democrats to
believe this (65% versus 59%);
● Just over two in five (44%) U.S.
Echo Boomers (those aged 18-31) say there is a great deal of hostility
compared to just over three quarters (78%) of U.S. Matures (those aged
63 and older);
● Nine in ten Americans (89%) say it
is important that the next president reduce political partisanship and
hostility in Washington, D.C. with 63 percent saying it is very
important he do this. Interestingly, just over half of Republicans (56%)
say it is very important compared to seven in ten (70%) Democrats.
● Just under half of U.S. adults
(48%) believe it is likely that Barack Obama could reduce political
partisanship and hostility and work with leaders of both parties, while
42 percent believe that John McCain is likely to do so;
● Two in five Americans (40%) believe
Barack Obama is not likely to reduce the partisanship while 45 percent
believe John McCain is not likely to do so;
● While each of their partisans is
more likely to say that their candidate would be likely to reduce
partisanship in D.C, Independents are split as just under half say both
Obama (48%) and McCain (47%) would be likely to reduce partisanship;
● When asked which of the two major
party candidates would be more successful at reducing hostility in
Washington, just over one-third (37%) say Barack Obama would be more
successful while one-quarter (25%) say John McCain would be. Telling is
that one-quarter (23%) say neither would be successful and 15 percent
are not sure;
● Among Republicans, over half (54%)
say McCain would be more successful and one-quarter (27%) say neither
candidate. Democrats are a bit more loyal as 62 percent believe Obama
would be more successful and 17 percent say neither candidate;
● Echo Boomers are more likely to say
Obama would be more successful than McCain (41% vs. 24%) while Matures
lean towards McCain (33% vs. 29%).
Partisanship in the U.S.
"How much political partisanship and hostility do
you believe there is in Washington, D.C.?"
Total
Generation
Party
Identification
Echo Boomers
(18-31)
Gen. X (32-43)
Baby Boomers
(44-62)
Matures (63+)
Rep.
Dem.
Ind.
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
A
GREAT DEAL/SOME (NET)
84
76
82
86
93
88
86
86
A Great
Deal
60
44
59
63
78
65
59
63
Some
24
31
23
23
16
23
27
23
NOT
THAT MUCH/NONE ATALL (NET)
9
10
11
10
3
8
7
9
Not That
Much
7
8
8
8
2
7
5
6
None At
All
2
2
3
3
1
1
2
3
Not sure
7
14
7
4
3
5
7
5
Who would be more
successful at reducing partisanship?
"Which of the candidates do you think would be more
successful in reducing hostility in Washington and cooling partisanship
between Republicans and Democrats?"
Total
Generation
Party
Identification
Echo Boomers
(18-31)
Gen. X (32-43)
Baby Boomers
(44-62)
Matures (63+)
Rep.
Dem.
Ind.
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
Barack
Obama
37
41
36
39
29
10
62
35
John
McCain
25
24
24
23
33
54
8
20
Neither
23
17
22
26
26
27
17
27
Not sure
15
18
19
13
11
9
13
19
Note: Percentages may not add to 100% due to
rounding
