If you look behind the numbers of most recent presidential polls, you’ll find an interesting “age gap.” Obama consistently does very well among Americans under 30 while McCain wins the 60 and older crowd. Chris Cillizza notes:
Another interesting finding from the Newsweek poll is that there seems to be a massive age gap forming around the choice between Obama and McCain. Among voters aged 18 to 39, Obama led McCain 56 percent to 33 percent; voters 40-59 were essentially a wash (44 percent McCain/41 percent Obama) while those 60 years of age or older went for McCain by a 48 percent to 37 percent margin.
Smart Democratic thinkers and strategists such as Ed Kilgore are beginning to urge Obama to start blistering McCain on Social Security as a way to lower his support among seniors. He writes:
McCain’s appeal to seniors is in no small part because he’s a familiar figure who has long been perceived by many older voters as trustworthy. If Democrats can spend some time showing seniors that McCain is a weasly flip-flopper on Social Security who would love to gut the program while accelerating tax cuts for wealthy Americans and corporations, those perceptions could significantly change. Watch for it in future polls.
Indeed. Watch for this line of attack from “independent” Democratic 527 organizations as well.
