Why Seniors Are Turning Against The GOP

by: Erica Seifert/The Carville-Greenberg memo

There’s something going on with seniors: It is now strikingly clear that they have turned sharply against the GOP. This is apparent in seniors’ party affiliation and vote intention, in their views on the Republican Party and its leaders, and in their surprising positions on jobs, health care, retirement security, investment economics, and the other big issues that will likely define the 2014 midterm elections.

We first noticed a shift among seniors early in the summer of 2011, as Paul Ryan’s plan to privatize Medicare became widely known (and despised) among those at or nearing retirement. Since then, the Republican Party has come to be defined by much more than its desire to dismantle Medicare. To voters from the center right to the far left, the GOP is now defined by resistance, intolerance, intransigence, and economics that would make even the Robber Barons blush. We have seen other voters pull back from the GOP, but among no group has this shift been as sharp as it is among senior citizens:

—In 2010, seniors voted for Republicans by a 21 point margin (38 percent to 59 percent). Among seniors likely to vote in 2014, the Republican candidate leads by just 5 points (41 percent to 46 percent.)
—When Republicans took control of the House of Representatives at the beginning of 2011, 43 percent of seniors gave the Republican Party a favorable rating.  Last month, just 28 percent of seniors rated the GOP favorably. This is not an equal-opportunity rejection of parties or government — over the same period, the Democratic Party’s favorable rating among seniors has increased 3 points, from 37 percent favorable to 40 percent favorable.
—When the Republican congress took office in early 2011, 45 percent of seniors approved of their job performance. That number has dropped to just 22 percent — with 71 percent disapproving.
—Seniors are now much less likely to identify with the Republican Party. On Election Day in 2010, the Republican Party enjoyed a net 10 point party identification advantage among seniors (29 percent identified as Democrats, 39 percent as Republicans). As of last month, Democrats now had a net 6 point advantage in party identification among seniors (39 percent to 33 percent).
—More than half (55 percent) of seniors say the Republican Party is too extreme, half (52 percent) say it is out of touch, and half (52 percent) say the GOP is dividing the country. Just 10 percent of seniors believe that the Republican Party does not put special interests ahead of ordinary voters.
—On almost every issue we tested — including gay rights, aid to the poor, immigration, and gun control — more than half of seniors believe that the Republican Party is too extreme.

What do seniors care about now?  Our Democracy Corps July National Survey found that:

—89 percent of seniors want to protect Medicare benefits and premiums.
—87 percent of seniors want to raise pay for working women.
—79 percent of seniors think we need to expand scholarships for working adults.
—77 percent of seniors want to expand access to high-quality and affordable childcare for working parents.
—74 percent of seniors want to cut subsidies to big oil companies, agribusinesses, and multinational corporations in order to invest in education, infrastructure, and technology.
—66 percent of seniors want to expand state health insurance exchanges under Obamacare.

All of these issues will be critical to the national debate as the 2014 election nears. The more seniors hear from Republicans on these and other issues, the more we can expect the GOP’s advantage among this important group to decline. And we can count on one thing in 2014: Seniors will vote.

Tea Party Organizers Call Security On Seniors And Reporters At Event With Local Congressman

By Tanya Somanader

As the backlash against the GOP’s plan to end Medicare grows, so does the attempt to block reporters from covering it. As ThinkProgress has reported, several Republicans are clamping downon citizen journalists at their events. But this weekend, the Tea Party of West Michigan took this to the next level.

At the Prince Conference Center at Calvin College in Grand Rapids Saturday evening, the Tea Party group hosted a fireside chat with Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI) for Tea Party supporters. The event was not open to the public, though numerous senior citizens were told the event was a town hall and were turned away at the door. A few seniors gathered outside on the sidewalk to discuss the various issues they had hoped to discuss with Amash, including their disapproval of Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) Medicare privatization plan. While seniors spoke with ThinkProgress and a reporter from the Michigan Messenger, organizers from the Tea Party group called campus security, summoning eight officers to force six seniors and two reporters off the premises.

According to security, the people who called them said the seniors had thrown things at the Tea Party organizers. Watch it:

According to multiple members inside, no objects were ever thrown. When asked, the conference center staff said they did not call security — indicating that the Tea Party asked security to move the constituents away from the building.

For an organization that’s campaigned for greater transparency from government officials, these actions seem to be anathema to its principles. Indeed, Tea Party organizer Lisa Dupont told the Michigan Messenger’s Sam Inglot that they intentionally blocked media from the event. “That’s our choice,” Dupont said. “We just wanted it to be laid back and comfortable, we’re asking the questions.” She then said she’d ask Amash if he minded. When Amash arrived, he demurred, saying “this is not an appropriate venue” and that this “happens all the time, whether I mind it or not.”

Attendees at the event, however, told ThinkProgress they were surprised reporters were not allowed in. One attendee went back inside to inform Amash that reporters were waiting in the lobby. However, according to Tea Party member Paul Meyer, the organization appointed him to keep reporters out, even after the event was over as we were considered a “security issue.”

After further questioning, security was summoned for a second time. According to the guards, the call again came from Tea Party organizers.

When leaving the event, one attendee stopped to tell ThinkProgress how Amash was a politician of principle. In singing his praises, she told ThinkProgress that “he is a big proponent of transparency.”