Will Wilkinson, in a post that sadly fails to recognize the merits of means testing Medicare after death instead of before, also says this:
I would add: that nearly a third of the voting public is 65 or older does not quite capture the overwhelming electoral heft of seniors. Retirees are disproportionately likely to actually show up at the polls. Moreover, the interests of seniors are more unified than those of younger voters….America’s silver foxes constitute a more or less consolidated force fighting for the protection of old-age entitlements.
I was all ready to make a point about this, but then I looked up the numbers and they aren’t nearly as bad as Will thinks. According to the Census Bureau, the 65+ crowd accounts for about 17% of the voting-age population. And according to the 2008 exit polls, that same group accounts for about 16% of the total votes cast. I’m surprised at this, but it appears that not only are America’s seniors not that huge a voting bloc, but they don’t really vote in extra big proportions either.
(And my original point? I was just going to say that things are worse than Will thinks, because once you hit 55 or so you start to realize that retirement is looming and you start voting as if you’re 65 already. And the 55+ share is obviously even bigger than the 65+ share. However, it turns out that the 55+ share comes to about a third of the population, so it’s no worse than Will thinks after all. It’s merely as bad.)
(And what is it he doesn’t get about the benefit of means testing Medicare after death instead of before? I wasn’t planning to write another post on this subject since it obviously has no political feasibility, but maybe I will over the weekend. Sometimes a little bit of blue-sky nattering is a good way of exercising the brain cells.)
