Posted on 11/06/2006 7:50:34 PM PST by politico 2006
...there's a voting cohort between Generation Xers and boomers that bears watching. They're the not-so-young of Generation Jones. If they're not "the lost generation" they're invisible to most of our culture commentators. The Joneses, who were born between 1954 and 1965, are usually included in the boomer cohort, but Jonathan Pontell, a pop culture consultant who coined the name, says that's a mistake. He thinks the Jonesers may be crucial in next week's congressional elections. "Coming of age politically in the late 1970s and early 1980s," he says, "Jonesers were the much discussed 'ReaganYouth,' and is the most conservative U.S. generation by a considerable margin." He credits Jonesers, particularly the women, with tipping the election for George W. in the swing states two years ago when they comprised approximately a quarter of the electorate. They are disproportionately represented among theme voters, such as NASCAR enthusiasts, Office Park Dads and Soccer-Security-Mortgage Moms. They cluster around issues of "moral values," and were polled as pulling away from conservative candidates after the Foley scandal. Now the latest polls show that they have conspicuously returned to the Republican base (apologies to Peggy Noonan). What makes them different from the boomers is that during their formative years, while their older brothers and sisters were indulging the hedonistic pleasures of Woodstock, they were at home watching the Brady Bunch and supping on mashed potatoes with both parents at the dinner table. They were not traumatized by the Kennedy assassination, but were terrified by Jimmy Carter's Iranian hostage crisis. They weren't interested in kicking Richard Nixon around, but were grateful to Ronald Reagan for restoring America's strength in the world... Next week we're likely to learn which candidates kept up with the Joneses. Copyright © 2006 News World Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.
(Excerpt) Read more at washtimes.com ...
Yes it is. And the polls this time don't support the author's thesis. Survey USA has Jones cohort cross tabs. They seem to be a bit more Dem than either their older or younger brothers, is my vague impression, but not by much.
Count me in as a Joneser then, born in '64 and will be voting a straight R ticket. I will be holding my nose on a couple, but it's a damn sight better than the alternatives.
Cheers,
SZ
I belive this. I was born in 1959 and have nothing in commom with the boomers. They in fact make me ill.
I am a genJoneser. Do NOT write our generation off. We can be pretty quiet culturally...but we're not prone to being walked over.
I'm not sure about this Jones moniker, but here's more info on the term Gen X, popularized by Douglas Coupland...
"Although the term Generation X appears back as far as the early 1960s, it was popularized by Douglas Coupland's 1991 novel Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, in which Coupland described the angst of those born between roughly 1960 and 1965, who, originally and incorrectly labeled as part of the baby boom generation, felt no connection to its cultural icons. In Coupland's usage, the X of Generation X referred to the namelessness of a generation that was coming into an awareness of its existence as a separate group but feeling dwarfed and overshadowed by the Boomer generation of which it was ostensibly a part. Afterwards the term stretched to include more people, being appropriated by the generation following the Baby Boomers and being used by marketers throughout the 1990s to denote potential buyers who were in their twenties at some time during the decade." Wikipedia
Hey, you're talking about ME!
I love kitty pictures.
"I was born in 1959 "
You ARE a boomer!
"Give no quarter."
"Cut no breaks."
'In Coupland's usage, the X of Generation X referred to the namelessness of a generation that was coming into an awareness of its existence as a separate group but feeling dwarfed and overshadowed by the Boomer generation of which it was ostensibly a part.'
An apt description of a generation that is in many respects a repeat of the "Lost Generation" of the early 20th Century.
Generation Jones? We have a name, now. I can die complete. (Although I was hoping for something, well, cool.)
They are Gen-Xer's like me. We grew up watching Reagan on TV, all the anti-communist movies of the 80's and even though the music could be debauch it was still generally pro-American. Most Americans were pro-life and your high school teacher still gave you their conservative opinions without fear of being sued.
I grew up assuming that America is a conservative country.
Now Gen-Yer's, I don't know. They make me nervous. lol
Can someone please cue that .gif of the 1950's people applauding ... please?
The difference between us and the boomers is that we grew up hearing our fathers growl at the TV screen (full of boomers protesting the war in Vietnam), "D--n dirty hippies ... get a job!"
That, and many of us are proud to say that our first vote in a Presidential election was for the greatest President of the 20th Century.
I was born in 1968 and would consider myself to be a part of this generation, I am voting all (R) tomorrow.....
I'm a '63 model, myself. Proud to say that I voted for Ronald Reagan in the Middle School election of 1976. Yeah, I know he wasn't on the official ticket, but I just couldn't bring myself to vote for Ford.
Hey, 1963 here. Just trying to keep up. I've always rejected the "boomer title". Reagan was the first president that I ever voted for.
What makes them different from the boomers is that during their formative years, while their older brothers and sisters were indulging the hedonistic pleasures of Woodstock, they were at home watching the Brady Bunch and supping on mashed potatoes with both parents at the dinner table.
This one voted straight ticket a week ago.
Pray for W and The Election
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