They are old and stupid. When they were young they were just as stupid. But these are not the people who will give us gay marriage. Most of that generation is dead (although some are still voting). It is the boomers who gave us free love and the Vietnam war resistance, the selfish ME generation that wants an ever expanding social spending spree for their benefits that will force gay marriage on us (if we let them). This is the generation that murdered a generation in the womb and will demand that the survivors pay for their viagra and support them in a retirement most of them didn't save for. I have hope though, after all John F'Kerry lost. The very embodiment of the Boomer Left lost. So I still have hope.
Most people never even think about politics. They got their politics at their mother's knee. Their friends and families are all the same. It's a tribal thing, not an intellectual pursuit. You said it all when you said they are yellow dog democrats. Fortunately, at Terry Mcauliff admitted, poor people don't vote, though they will talk your ear off.