More and More, in Obama’s Corner
Mitt Romney has just come off a couple of rough news weeks in his quest for the presidency, but if Clyde Tennyson, 62, of Hampton, Va., is as typical of the baby boom generation as polling data seem to suggest, there is more bad news to come.
Mr. Tennyson, a designer at Hampton’s shipyard, voted for Senator John McCain in the 2008 presidential election. In that election, the boomers split their vote down the middle, giving Mr. McCain and Barack Obama 49 percent each.
This time, Mr. Tennyson says he’s voting for President Obama, a shift that a sizable number of his fellow boomers are making, according to recent polling data.
He’s angry about the Republicans’ talk of changing Medicare from government sponsored to a private voucher program. Though Mr. Romney swears it’s not so, Mr. Tennyson also fears that the Republicans will alter Social Security. “I’m going to need Medicare and so are my kids,” said Mr. Tennyson, who has three children ages 29 to 39. “I’ve been paying money into Social Security the last 40 years, and it’s all I’m going to have to retire on — I don’t want to hear a word about privatization. Not Medicare, not Social Security.”
Mr. Tennyson is one of the 78 million Americans born between 1946 and 1964, known as the baby boom generation. In the most recent New York Times/CBS News poll, likely voters in roughly that age group favored Mr. Obama by 9 percentage points. In a Pew Research Center poll of likely voters, Mr. Obama is ahead, 50 to 44 percent, within that age group.
“This is a significant change, and that generation’s vote counts for a lot,” said Scott Keeter, director of survey research for Pew. The boomers, who range in age from 48 to 66, account for 37 percent of all voters. Generation X — roughly 31 to 46 — makes up 26 percent. The youngest voters, ages 18 to 30, and the oldest, over 65, make up 17 percent each.
The apparent shift could be offset by a softer level of support for Mr. Obama among the youngest voters, in the 18-to-29 age group, of whom 66 percent went for him in 2008, and potentially lower turnout.
What is moving the baby boom voters? It may be Medicare.
On Friday, at the AARP convention in New Orleans, the Republican vice presidential candidate Paul D. Ryan was widely booed when he mentioned repealing “Obamacare” and privatizing Medicare.
The Great Recession had a major impact just as the older boomers were approaching retirement. The typical household income for those 55 to 64 has dropped nearly 10 percent since the recession, to $55,748 from $61,716, the biggest decrease of any age group.
Lark McDonald, 51, who owns a small business in the Denver area, says he voted for Mr. McCain last time, and usually votes a straight Republican ticket, but is leaning toward Mr. Obama. He worries that the Republicans are moving too far right, he said, but he is also concerned they will dismantle the Obama health care program and make major changes in Medicare. “I take care of my father’s medical issues,” he said. “He relies on Medicare, and if we go to a voucher system, it will make everything harder to do.”
According to the Pew poll, 69 percent of boomers say Medicare is “very important” to their vote, which is surpassed only by those 65 and older. Also, 54 percent of likely voters in that age group, according to the Times/CBS News poll, believe that Mr. Obama is doing a better job of handling Medicare, compared with 42 percent for Mr. Romney.
And 30 percent “strongly approve” of the president’s health care program, the most of any age group.
In the last election, Howard Litvack, 53, a finance manager of a car dealership in Franklin, Tenn., backed Ralph Nader, as a protest vote. This time, he says, he’s voting for Mr. Obama. “It’s more important this time to have my vote count,” he said. “There’s more at stake.”
He is particularly concerned about the Republicans’ proposal for privatizing Medicare, which would apply to people under 55, including him. “It absolutely plays into this,” Mr. Litvack said. “I’m interested in how this will affect me, and believe me, it will affect me negatively.”
Originally Posted by JustPassingThrough
