Will Bingo Nights & Ads On The Price Is Right Save Democracy?
There’s been a lot written about Democrats panicking over Biden losing very significant support from young voters. And while that is a big problem, remember two things:
The anti-Biden youth are more likely to abstain or vote 3rd party than vote for Trump
Historically, young voters are the least reliable when it comes to turnout
The most reliable when it comes to turnout are the elderly— and they’ve been a GOP mainstay for years and may be turning towards Biden in this cycle! In 2020, voters aged 65 and older had a turnout rate of 74.5% while voters 29 and younger have a turnout rate of just 49% (and that was relatively high for that cohort). In the 2016 election, only 46.1% of 18-29 year olds voted (compared to 70.9% of the elderly). Let me take a little tangent for a second and I’ll come back around to 2024 right afterwards.
When I was a kid, older voters— including white older voters— were still a strong part of the Democratic coalition that FDR had put together. They still appreciated the Democrats for Social Security and other programs aimed at providing economic relief and dignity for the elderly. Unfortunately, over the decades, as the Democratic Party drifted away from a New Deal perspective and sold out to corporate special interests, there has been a significant shift, with older voters becoming more aligned with the Republican Party.
The Democratic Party's strong stance on civil rights, starting with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, alienated white Southern voters and older voters who were resistant to these changes, marking the beginning of a disastrous political realignment. In fact, at the same time, rapid cultural shits— from the women's liberation movement, the sexual revolution (including the fight for LGBTQ equality), opposition to the Vietnam War, also played a role in frightening many older white voters, who were more conservative on social issues and began feeling disconnected from a Democratic Party that was becoming more progressive on social issues and less progressive on economic issues.
And then right on cue came the conservative counter-revolution. The election of senior citizen icon Ronald Reagan in 1980 was a pivotal moment. His conservative policies, emphasis on smaller government, strong national defense, and traditional values resonated with many older voters. He appealed to older [white] Americans who were disenchanted with the social changes and perceived excesses of the 1960s and 1970s. Since then, the GOP’s alignment with the Christian Right and its focus on moral and religious issues (such as opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage) attracted older voters who held more traditional values and fell for the GOP’s racially tinged hysteria about law and order.
I always found the greatest irony to be how older voters fell for the GOP bullshit about how they would support and protect Social Security and Medicare while also ensuring economic stability and low taxes and while sowing concerns about the sustainability of these programs under "free-spending" Democrats. And this while conservatives— basically all Republicans and corporate conservative Democrats— have steadfastly tried to chip away at both programs!
In the 2020 presidential election, voters aged 65 and older favored Señor T over Biden by a margin of 52% to 47%. It’s important to remember that Fox News’ appeal has always been to voters 65 and above and their propaganda has helped the Republicans win over older voters. Can the Biden campaign turn this around? Yesterday, Noah Bressner reported on their efforts to do so and noted that he “could become the first Democrat to win the demographic in over two decades. If current polling pans out, November's election between two historically old candidates would upend long-held assumptions about how Americans vote… Older Americans— perhaps driven by old-school respect for institutions and distaste for Trump's unorthodox style— are flocking to Biden, according to a series of recent polls. (Another theory: The hippies got old.)”
Recent polls show Biden ahead of Trump with older voters by around 10 points with the preservation of democracy emerging as one of the clearest dividing lines between younger and older voters, the most urgent issue for 10% of registered voters aged 18-34 and for 35% of those 65 and older, “higher than any other single issue including the economy and immigration… Biden— who has torn into Republicans for eyeing cuts to Social Security and Medicare— is making a play at older voters with a new program announced this week called Seniors for Biden-Harris. The outreach effort includes bingo nights and pickleball tournaments. The campaign is running ads on daytime TV shows that are popular with seniors, including The Price is Right.”
Savvy Democratic congressional candidates whose opponents have records of opposing or cutting Social Security have been using that as a powerful issue with older voters. The most likely Democrat to flip a Republican-held seat west of the Mississippi is Arizona progressive Conor O'Callaghan. "Schweikert," he told us today, "has made it clear that he wants to dismantle Social Security and destroy the sacred contract Americans have made with the government. It's time to retire David Schwiekert this November and get real leadership in AZ-01."
You may have noticed that reactionary Ohio Republican Troy Balderson is one of the Republicans who wants to cut Social Security. His opponent, Jerrad Christian, told us that "As housing prices skyrocket due to corporate buy-up of housing, the price of groceries and goods rise due to corporate gouging, the GOP has one thing on its mind— take more from Americans. Cuts to social security is a risk that puts everyone in danger, except those with wealth.
As Republicans ignore food and housing security for the elderly of our nation, they distract voters with drag queens reading books to children. The GOP is the party of corporations and espouse the need to bring some vague "greatness" to a nation they can only talk shit about. Democrats are the party that puts PEOPLE first, not some concept of America they choose to define later. We must protect people— always.
Please consider contrubuting to Conor's and Jerrad's campaigns here on the ActBlue Flip Congress page.
Guestcrapper, You think every demographic is way dumber than your demographic of one, so why do you care. That's a rhetorical question. I know that has to be pointed out to you.
Yeah. Fool the dumbest demographics to make up for the less dumb demographics finally getting a clue. THAT's what the founders were thinking.