Posted on 10/28/2004 2:58:11 PM PDT by qam1
October 27, 2004 --Since July, 40-49 yr. old (Generation Jones) women have vacillated more than other generations of women between John Kerry and George W. Bush. In October they are also the most evenly divided, favoring Bush by a slight margin of 47% to 46%. This segment also has the highest percentage of undecideds in October, with 5.4% not sure who they'll vote for on Nov. 2.
Three of the five generations of women have favored Kerry each month, with only 30-39 yr. olds (Generation X) and 40-49 yr. olds swinging toward Bush in August and September. However, the much-discussed swing among women back toward Kerry in October was driven by the Generation Jones segment, while Generation X women actually increased their support for Bush, favoring him by 52% to 43%.
Rasmussen Report's age-breakdown also highlights the difference between Generation Jones and Baby Boomer women (the two groups are sometimes lumped together). Boomer women have favored Kerry each month, in October by 50% to 45%.
Women Voters by Age
| Period | 18 - 29 | 30 - 39 | 40 - 49 | 50 - 64 | 65 + |
| October 5 - 11, 2004 - Total | |||||
| Bush 46.4% | 46.1% | 51.6% | 47.1% | 45.1% | 40.5% |
| Kerry 48.1% | 48.1% | 43.3% | 46.3% | 50.2% | 54.1% |
Well, here's the explanation (such as it is) that I found on their website, thanks to qam1:
You know, like Generation Smith or Generation Doe (But Jones sounds better and has many more meanings).
Not only have we been anonymous, but we are also the largest generation in American history. Our 53 million members constitute more than 1out of 4 adults in the U.S. today.
Between the personality extremes of the Boomers' idealism and the Xers' cynicism lies our more balanced mainstream "Jones" character.
To "get it", you need a postmodern sensibility: that swirl of irony, deconstruction and pastiche that our generation's coming of age in the 70s fueled from the margins to the malls.
"Jonesin'" is a hip, passionate slang word that means a strong craving for something or someone.
Our generation has the jones. As children in the 60s, at the absolute height of America's post-World War II affluence and confidence, Jonesers were promised the moon. Then, in the 70s, as the nation's mood turned from hope to fear, we were abandoned. While Boomers began with big expectations that were often realized, and Xers were never given much of anything to expect, it was our generation that was filled with the highest hopes and then confronted with the most dramatically different reality. Huge expectations left unfulfilled have deeply entrenched a jonesin' in us. This jonesin' has made us strikingly driven and persevering, and has given our generation a certain non-comittal, pending flavor as we've continued to hold out for our original dreams.
Our generation's popular culture since the 70s has been filled with this theme of craving, unrequited love, and perseverance. Here's just a few examples:
Songs
Born to Run (Bruce Springsteen, '75)
Dream On (Aerosmith, '76)
Dream Weaver (Gary Wright, '76)
Stayin' Alive (Bee Gees, '78)
I Will Survive (Gloria Gaynor, '79)
Fame (Irene Cara, '80)
Hungry Heart (Bruce Springsteen, '80)
Hungry Like the Wolf (Duran Duran, '83)
Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (U2, '87)
.
Movies
Bless the Beasts and Children ('72)
Breaking Away ('79)
Fame ('80)
Personal Best ('82)
Perfect ('85)
Top Gun ('86)
Wall Street ('87)
Working Girl ('88)
Sleepless in Seatle ('93)
Jerry Maguire ('95)
Originally, "jones" was an obscure, narrow slang word. It was our generation that transformed it, in the 70s, into a much more widely used word with a broader meaning.
Our music provides good illustration of our generation's history with this word:
Love Jones (1972) : Billboard top ten hit written about, by, and for our generation. Performed by the Joneser high school band The Brighter Side of Darkness, it told of a Joneser teen's intense puppy love craving. [At least 16 other(not cover) songs titled "Love Jones" appeared during our era].
Basketball Jones (1973) : Cheech and Chong parody of the previous year's "Love Jones", it described another kid our age jonesin', this time to shoot hoops. We made this song so popular it was made into a cartoon for us.
Mr. Jones : A string of songs with this metaphorical title appeared, including versions by: Psychedelic Furs ('87), Talking Heads ('89), and Counting Crows (4of the 5 band members are Jonesers) ('93)
Numerous other "jones" songs during our era, including:
Peter's Jones ('72) (It's gonna take some time to make you mine/but my jones can't wait/it hurts to hesitate)
I Got a Jones on you, Baby ('77) (I can't kick this habit I have for you)
Jones Crusher ('79) (My baby's got jones crushin' love…that little girl's got the jones)
"Generation Jones" has an ironic, cool, postmodern feel to it.
"Jonesin'" has quite a bit of hip cachet. It's passionate, sexy, gritty; it has drama and movement, poetry and eloquence.
Our young hearts were politically stoked as children being formed during the 60s. We grew up watching the collective bonding and power of generational political activism in the Boomers ahead of us. Many of us looked forward to our turn in the 70s, an opportunity that never arrived.
First we get ridiculously lumped in with the Boomers, then, in the early 90s, Gen X is much celebrated as "the" post-Boomer generation.
Hey, what about us? There has been a growing awareness, albeit unconscious, that we have been passed over. Many of us have wanted our fair recognition as a generation, to be part of something bigger than ourselves, to be a page in a history book.
Generation Jones has a generation jones.
As Jonesers were being born, the country was undergoing its own rebirth; with 90s hindsight, John F. Kennedy's 1961 inaugural reference to the "passing of the torch to a new generation" takes on added meaning.
We were actual children in the idealistic, childlike 60s, and then lost our innocence as the nation did in the seventies, as we searched for our identity in that adolescent Me Decade. And in the 80s and 90s, America's turn to materialism and security has paralleled our own drift toward middle-age.
Why the name Generation Jones>
You know, like Generation Smith or Generation Doe (But Jones sounds better and has many more meanings). Not only have we been anonymous, but we are also the largest generation in American history. Our 53 million members constitute more than 1out of 4 adults in the U.S. today.
Talkin' 'bout my generation...
How about Generation Basketball Jones?
There is a lot of symbolism in that link.
Single women loved Clinton because they crave love and attention, and they thought Clinton was the kinds guy to deliver that. Married women want a man who will take them seriously, and George with his Laura looks very much like a guy who takes her very seriously. Thant's my explanation.
I'm 42, and I don't really feel like a Baby Boomer or a Gen-Xer.
I don't really know how women my age are voting. I live in California, but grew up in Texas. I think lots of my non-Church, California friends are for Kerry. I don't talk politics with them. My Texas friends are all for Bush!
Now that would be me. I like the name "Brady Boomers".
This is 100 percent true in Ohio. The bad news is, young white men are angry and their anger is directed at bush. It seems the booming service jobs suit women, but the disappearing manufacturing jobs is making men mad. When I talk to the men, they seem discouraged and feel the system does not have a place for them. The women are full of hope and optimism.
It's useful to have a shorthand identifier for that group of Boomers, but they are not a whole generation unto themselves, so GenJones is not great. I would prefer Brady Boomers for its accuracy and inclusivity. This group is mixed in its opinion simply because of its placement in time, but speaking stereotypically (as if when talking about a mass of people's opinions you can do otherwise!), they are in idealism and opinion similar to Boomers.
You want to hear something really funny? You can blame (or credit) old style feminism with that. Previous generations of women were trained to look for a man to look after them( the prince charming thing). Alas men were proving to be not so dependable in the 50's and 60's so those women looked to the Government to take care of them. Now we look to ourselves to take care of ourselves.
X-er woman for Bush .... glad to see I've got company.
"MeeeeEeeeeEeeeeEeeeeee aaaaaaaaAaaaaaand Gener...Generation JoooooOoooones!"
Are they the ones transitioning the pot to coke culture?
This "boomer" is firmly in the Bush camp. One thing young 'uns don't know about the 60s was that not all boomers were hippies. It was a small radical fringe that unfortunately now controls the colleges and media.
Most of us were disgusted then with the anti-war hippies then as we're disgusted with the dirty anti-war protesters now.
The one thing they had in common across the generations: An adversion to soap and water.
Technically, I am part of the Baby Boom (1957), but feel no kindred with the likes of that traitor bag Jane Fonda and her chubby little sister Dizzy Lizzy Edwards.
At 47 and a Southern lady, I'd rather be an honorary Gen-X-r, because I am a rock-solid, rootin-tootin, ever-lovin supporter of President Bush!
As a pro Bush Boomer you are not completely atypical, however, the Boomers have the largest percentage, generationally, of the New Left. You raised an interesting observation. Today's young rabble are just about the right age to have been born 20 - 25 years ago. Guess who their parents were? Hmmmmmm.....
Generation Jones were born during the late 50s and just into the early 60s. The transition between the true core Boomers, and Gen X. I am technically a late Joneser, born in '62, but as my parents were Silent Gen folks, too young to have been involved in WW2 and the Korean War, and too old to get drafted to go to 'Nam, I fit in more socially with the Xers.
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