Then why were they voting Republican? The only time the Democrats the youth vote in their time, was after Watergate, when Carter won 51%
Nixon won 52% of the 18 to 29 year old vote in 1972.
In 1968 the Democrats won 47% of the (21) to 29 year old vote, in 1972, they won 46% of the 18 to 29 age group, in 1976, after Watergate, and with the weak, moderate (and under suspicion) Ford, against what appeared to be a social conservative Democrat with a strong military back ground, the Democrats picked up 51% of the 18 to 29 year old vote.
In 1980 Democrats got 44% of that age group, 1984-40%, 1988-47%.
It wasn't until 1992 that the under 30 age group (without boomers) became a Democrat voter group, George W. did get 46% and 45% though.
The 66% that Obama won, is unprecedented and doesn't bode well for the future.
“Then why were they voting Republican? The only time the Democrats the youth vote in their time, was after Watergate, when Carter won 51%”
So you voted for Carter, and you voted for Bubba Clinton. Great legacy. Then you had the worst disaster when you destroyed Nixon.
The only redeeming thing that the Boomers did was vote in Reagan in ‘84, after it became clear that he was going to win without you.
You saw the numbers. 52 percent in favour of Obama. That’s a drop of 14 percent. And yet, we’re the stupid generation? He’s still got 44 percent from the boomers, a drop of only 4 percent from the 48 he got in the election.
So it’s pretty clear that the young folks are getting it and are fixing the situation a hell of a lot quicker than the boomers.
If the boomers can just stay out of it for once, we can win this darn thing in 2012. Hopefully, they won’t all swing again and backstab us all.
“Then why were they [the young] voting Republican?”
They weren’t! The few who actually bothered to vote (being more responsible citizens) may have voted more Republican than Democrat, but that demographic’s turnout was pathetic until ‘08.
We have a different understanding of ‘young’ as regards voting habits. The XXVI Amendment was only adopted in 1971; ‘72 was the first national election after its ratification when the 18-21 group could vote at all, and Nixon was the incumbent. So he got slightly more than half the ‘youth’ vote.
I would differentiate that 18-21 group from the 25-29 in any case. The latter have generally entered the ‘real,’ i.e., working world while the former are still in school and dependent with little to no grasp of reality. That does affect one’s voting tendencies.