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Senior Citizen Vote Appears to Have Provided Bush
Win
Nov. 3, 2004 - An analysis of exit interviews by
CBS and CNN from yesterdays presidential election indicates it was
senior citizens that carried the re-election for President George W.
Bush. It is yet to be seen in the early analysis, but they may have also
been leaders in the voting surge.
Mr. Bush received support from 53 percent of voters
60 and over, compared to 46 percent for Kerry, according to the exit
polls. The vote was slightly different for those 65 and older, with only
51 percent supporting Bush and 48 percent for Kerry.
In the last three elections, voters 60 and over
have supported the Democratic nominee. Bill Clinton held a 12-point
advantage over Mr. Bushs father, and a 4-point advantage over Bob Dole.
Al Gore received 51 percent of the senior vote to Mr. Bushs 47 percent.
The support for Bush in this election by those 60
and over increased by six percentage points, and by four percentage
points for those 65 plus.
Amazingly, says CBSNews.com political analyst
Samuel J. Best, nearly all the key swing states broke according to
seniors preferences. In Florida and Colorado, where Mr. Bush received
support from a majority of seniors, he won. Conversely, in the
battleground states of Pennsylvania and Minnesota, where Mr. Bush failed
to secure a majority of seniors, he lost.
Nationwide, seniors thought highly of Mr. Bush.
Fifty-five percent of voters 60 and over had a favorable opinion of him,
while 54 percent of this group approved of his job performance.
The president's appeal to seniors appears to stem
from his positions on social issues, according to CBS. Twenty-one
percent of voters over 60 named moral values as the issue that mattered
most in their vote decision. Only 16 percent of seniors supported gay
marriage, and only16 percent thought abortion should be approved under
all circumstances.
This should not have been a surprise, since
pre-election polling has shown senior citizens much more conservative
than younger voters on many of these social issues.
Grey Power Vote
CBSNews.com Analysis of Senior Vote
CNN Exit Poll (Click
to all on CNN)
|
VOTE BY AGE |
|
 |
BUSH |
|
 |
KERRY |
 |
NADER |
|
TOTAL |
2004 |
2000 |
2004 |
2004 |
|
 |
|
18-29
(17%) |
44% |
-2 |
54% |
1% |
|
 |
|
30-44
(28%) |
51% |
+2 |
47% |
1% |
|
|
|
45-59
(30%) |
50% |
+1 |
49% |
1% |
|
|
|
60 and
Older (25%) |
53% |
+6 |
46% |
0% |
|
|
|
VOTE BY AGE |
|
|
BUSH |
|
|
KERRY |
|
NADER |
|
TOTAL |
2004 |
2000 |
2004 |
2004 |
|
|
|
18-64
(83%) |
50% |
+2 |
49% |
1% |
|
|
|
65 and
Older (17%) |
51% |
+4 |
48% |
0% |
|
|
See Pre-Election Story:
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 dramatically - 14.9 percent of all voters in '64 to 23.2 in
2002. More...
10/29/04*
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