Voters over 70 are backing Harris over Trump, 51 to 48 percent, Emerson College poll finds
A new poll shows some baby boomers and members of the Silent Generation are switching allegiances from former President Donald Trump to Vice President Kamala Harris.
The Emerson College poll released Thursday shows voters over 70 backing Harris over Trump 51 to 48 percent. That’s a small but positive shift for Harris, as last month, 50 percent of the group supported Trump while 48 percent backed President Joe Biden, who dropped out of the race and endorsed Harris last month.
The group includes some baby boomers, who were born between 1946 and 1964, and the Silent Generation, born between 1925 and 1945.
How about that. Harris moves to the left on domestic economic issues, and boomers switch to her. Even as prominent Republicans call her a commie.
Conventional “wisdom” within the centrist wing of the party is that we have to move to the right because boomers will flee in panic if we dare move to the left. Turns out, centrists have been full of shit this entire time. We’ve wasted so many years moving to the right for a lie. What else are centrists full of shit about?
Harris moves to the left on domestic economic issues, and boomers switch to her.
You might be making a classical correlation is not causation mistake here. There are a lot of separate reasons to prefer Harris over Trump.
Where were you for the past few decades when centrists were gleefully announcing that all wins are because they moved to the right, and any losses are because they were too far to the left?
Here in Europe, where we are not burdened by two-party systems :-|
Except the UK (and Belarus I guess). Imo OPs statement rings true for British politics as well
In Europe, literal fascists are elected to parliament.
Let’s not jerk ourselves into a frenzy here.
Ugh, but I was so close…
That one 100% is. They post regularly around here claiming that their protests are the reason Biden step down. Not the hulking disaster that was his debate performance. For 6 months protestors screamed at the president and not the congress that was responsible. With no result. Well detached from reality.
It’s depressing that so many with that mentality exist. Or at least are so loud. The myopic focus on the president who doesn’t authorize Aid or fund Aid to foreign governments. Has led to real losses for those of us that want to see Israel held accountable for their genocide. A number of National Congress people who are profile signed have lost their positions. Effectively being replaced by much more pro-israel people. And all this time of After ignoring Senate and House races. Not Fielding and supporting better candidates to take part of the body that actually could fix this. There’s still threatening to hurt the few who remain by threatening to take away the party’s control of another branch of government. They still haven’t realized that holding yourself hostage leaves you with no Leverage realistically.
That one 100% is. They post regularly around here claiming that their protests are the reason Biden step down. Not the hulking disaster that was his debate performance. For 6 months protestors screamed at the president and not the congress that was responsible. With no result. Well detached from reality.
It’s depressing that so many with that mentality exist.
The mentality that protests are effective?
I could as easily voice my sadness that mentalities like yours are so prevalent. How do you believe politics work? Do politics happen in tv and the ballot box only? Do you claim the protests had no effect at all? Even if that were true your words have the effect of dismissing direct action, deriding that type of participation in politics. What good purpose do these words serve?
Finally, your… outrageous dismissal of bidens role in the genocide “those people” have been “screaming about” is… Well i’m not going there. If youve come to that conclusion somehow it ain’t gone be me what changes it.
How can it be that you spent energy remembering ensign_crabs name but not enough to understand a thing theyve posted? If you’re going to ad hominem, then a cultered commenter demands you provide more evidence than your fee-feez.
Write less, pardner. You don’t see enough to say anything useful, and certainly not enough to cast stones.
The mentality that protests are effective?
Please do quote where I said that. I never did and never would. Because it’s been very effective in my state. We lost an elected Pro Palestinian Congress person. Now I would say that has as much or more to do with them having been a week candidate in the first place. But you cannot argue that that is not an effect.
No the mentality I spoke of was the one you so elegantly demonstrated just now. A complete lack of introspection, or genuinely trying to engage with those that disagree. Arguing past people with strawmen. Assuming them to be, and making them the enemy and not a potential ally.
Everything we do has an opportunity cost. We can’t do “everything” we have to pick and choose where our attention and effort goes. As an anarchist I believed protesting is generally good and should be disruptive. And that everyone is free to decide where and how they do it. I’m also free to point out the issues with it. But I can be honest and acknowledge that some protesting and actions are better and more effective. Which certain people can’t.
I like the fantasy that all Americans are secret hard core leftists. They aren’t unfortunately. Most barely approach center. And that all protest is equally effective and good. It’s not either.
The people screaming at presidential candidates. Haven’t accomplished anything. They can show no causation between their efforts and Biden stepping down. The fact that he was replaced not with a better more Palestine friendly candidate. But someone from his own administration. His own VP and current running mate. Really speaks to the opposite. That they are still ignoring a lot of these protests.
And why wouldn’t they? This model of protesting is a lot like protesting Coca-Cola still operating in israel. By standing out front by the Pepsi Bottling plant and yelling at the people inside. It is entirely possible that Coca-Cola Executives might see it and decide that maybe they should stop just so they don’t have to deal with that themselves someday. Or they might just ignore it. Which as long as they’re making money would be the most likely outcome.
The president at best has leeway to choose how to implement congress’s plans where it is not specified. But Congress can still rebuke and override the president at any point they want beyond being stopped by the Supreme Court. Pick out the best profalestinian Advocate you can think of. And now assume they somehow got elected to the office of president. As president realistically they would have a very little influence or control over us aid to Israel. And will be overridden in a heartbeat by our Congress full of Zionist Pro Israeli members.
Because congress, the thing we’ve largely been ignoring. Has always been the problem. Not specifically the president. Yes Biden should hold Israel’s feet to the fire as much as he can. He should have done better. And I have hope that Harris will do better. But it was always for not if we didn’t fix Congress. And I get it. People hate being told that their efforts were misguided and ineffective. Worse to feel like or find out that they have been manipulated. But it’s really sad to see so many self-professed people on the left behaving like magats. Unable to accept criticism and doubling down irrationally.
Please do quote where I said that. I never did and never would.
how bout i quote this tirade?
The people screaming at presidential candidates. Haven’t accomplished anything.
This is just more proof you need to speak less and read more. Fuck son, at least proofread your own damn comments so i don’t have to struggle like this
That’s talking about their protest specifically. Not protest in general. So just as I thought you were being disingenuous.
disengenous huh?
you little shit
i could go line by line through our interactions and point out how disingenous most of your words are, or even how you deny my accusations and prove me right in the same comment, like the one you just made… but the only thing i’d ever receive from you is wild unhinged wordsalad, and that is not a good value-return for my investment of time. so here’s what we’re gonna do.
Oh good. My stalker is here.
While everyone knows who you are sweetheart you aren’t that important. :-)
If everyone knows who I am, you don’t need to follow me around badmouthing me just because I’m not all-in on the genocide that gives your life meaning.
What else are centrists full of shit about?
They’re full of shit about being “centrist”. Every word uttered by a conservative is deception or manipulation. Every word.
What aren’t they full of shit about?
Literally everything.
did they finally realize GOP is going to take everything away from everyone who isn’t a billionaire and give it to billionaires? like they started in 16?
Started in `16? I think you meant '81.
I mean the Business Plot was in ‘33
'29
0000 AD*
There is no year 0 AD. It goes for 1 BC to 1 AD.
Right? I wonder how many would line up to suck off Coolridges little pubic ridge. These people have been this way for like 500 years. Honestly the joke about 0000 might even be too soon. They’re a disease.
The concept crystalized at the core of the Republican party in the 1960s
Just after operation paperclip peeps had enough time to get settled and stuff
deleted by creator
Sooo many boomers I know were so annoyed with Trump v Biden, saying “Anyone but these two.”
They got their wish.
“The first party to retire its 80-year-old candidate is going to be the party that wins this election." ~Nikki Hailey
Looks like she might have been right.
If she’d been nominated instead of Trump the GOP would win on a walk.
2 Democrats haven’t been elected into office twice in a row since before the Civil War (a VEEPS were elevated to the office through deaths) - this should have been easy for the GOP, but instead they nominated the most-divisive politician in American history.
Ehhh lots of the GOP is openly racist and wouldn’t vote for someone of Indian descent.
2 Dems haven’t won in a row after an 8 year term, combined with a race with no incumbent/former president, I think that’d be an open race.
I really hate these headlines. 1. The actual shift is tiny (don’t get complacent). 2. Soon enough the media will be bored and cherrypick some numbers that are good for Trump generating new headlines. Anything to ensure the debate is not about policy.
“oh, it’s porridge and word salad again, fuck me, will we ever get anything more than empty promises.”
same with democrats and the ones of us who have escaped the Matrix are ridiculed by both parties for speaking against either corpo party
Awesome whataboutism.
Of the two sides, which of them is more open and honest and actually passes policies to help people? And which is one that name calls and blocks any policy just because the other side made it.
Yay, the both sides morons are back. 🙄
Dope word salad, looks delicious
Can you guys at least get some new material? You say the same thing over and over and over again.
It might help if they watch a movie that isn’t The Matrix. Let’s start with that.
that is because our leaders keep failing us on the same things over and over again
Removed by mod
The old people I know are happy to volunteer that other old people need to get out of the way for the younger generation.
As an old person, I approve this message. It’s exhausting to keep screwing things up for everyone that comes after us.
When it comes to Harris’s running mate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, 39 percent of voters have a favorable view. The same number has a favorable view of Trump’s number two, Ohio Senator JD Vance.
But 49 percent of voters have an unfavorable view of Vance while only 39 percent have an unfavorable view of Walz.
I can’t believe Walz and Vance have the same favorable view.
That’s what you get when fox news spouts outright lies and deception 24/7, when facebook controls the algorithm and gives zero fucks about content moderation, when campaigns are able to spend millions on attack ads, etc.
The U.S. election system is a joke.
The U.S.
election systemis a joke.FTFY
You’re not wrong.
Imagine if you will a world so ignorant that its citizens could be unsure of a candidate like Trump or Harris, and then decide to vote for the other. This is America.
The U.S. election system is a joke.
The aristocrats.
He’s nationally unknown. As people get to know him more you’ll see his favorable grow. Vance’s won’t.
The larger number of ‘not sure’ may be due to having three extra weeks of knowing of Vance. Some people either are truly not sure or at least want to sound like they are carefully evaluating a candidate they only heard about in the last couple of weeks.
People like my mother, who, when asked about Vance responds “I’ve yet to read his works”; when asked about Walz “oh you mean Tom Cilz, right?”
Its the lead poisoning
That’s true.
I can’t believe Walz and Vance have the same favorable view.
A lot of this is generically partisan. Walz has a 10% higher “Never heard of him” figure, and that’s going to change depending on how the media frames him. I’m less worried about what actual Republican media tries (they’ve been pretty ham-handed with their early snipes) and much more worried what we’re going to see out of the Papers Of Record, given that the NYT/WaPo Op-Ed boards were seriously gunning for Shapiro and now they’re all being pissy about it.
But I also think Trump’s kinda-sorta right, in saying that people don’t really care about your VP. These are going to be hyper-partisan elections. The idea that you’re going to have Republicans break ranks for Harris because of Walz feels overly optimistic. Not when they’re still stuck on the FOX News bandwagon, and they’re inevitably going to get an earful about how Tim personally lead a delegation of illegal Chinese Muslim Immigrants to a factory town in Ohio to hold up the jobs factory and steal all the jobs.
Overall favorability is going to decay as the parties go hard into the negative ads. And I fully believe this is going to be one of the grossest elections of my lifetime, what with Dems finally deciding to be mean to Republicans and Republicans being even more desperate and hysterical than usual.
Those numbers are such bullshit. 538 has just a solid line of 39% or whatever the fuck. Literally nothing makes a difference. You know, we used to put world events on these graphs and see how the populace responded. Now… just line. They’re not human.
You can make a poll give you any result you want. Just like with elections and gerrymandering.
That’s all well and good, but let’s hope we see the fruits of this swing at the ballot box.
I think a lot of people forget what the world was like when the older baby boomers came of age.
I mean yeah, the only people who could feasibly remember are starting to forget stuff.
Well, yeah, but there are books and stuff.
Yeah, but they’ve been burning them.
What do you mean
In their growing up years we had 170k soldiers killed, wounded, or missing in Korea. In their early adult years we had Vietnam, the draft, and Kent State.
…
what.
No, WAT.
… I … they …
there’s … how the
Am I fucking dreaming?
Did I fucking DIE on the morning of July 21st 2024 and ALL of this has been nothing but a manic hallucination as all my neurons fire off for one last time?
what i mean is, i honestly thought the boomers were beyond help???
I could have SWORN they stopped giving a shit about anything but enriching themselves and fucking over their kids and grandkids and great grandkids just for the sake of their own sick amusement an entire decade ago.
I am legitimately astonished that there’s a scrap of decency left in them to even COMPREHEND supporting anything but absolutely the worst of all available wrong decisions.
there’s actually some part of me that wonders if kamala actually winning the support of THEM could actually be some kind of red flag… O_o; I’m not going to entertain that part or cultivate it, i’m going to starve it into atrophy now that i’ve expressed and confronted the thought, but still, this is such a shock that it was actually there.
I mean, or it’s just true that no group is a monolith and that even the misguided can change course. It’s a good thing that was never impossible.
THIS
Republicans are coming for their old people benefits. They want to gut Social Security and Medicare. Any old person that has a scrap of intelligence hearing that is simply following their own self-interest to vote Democrat. Also helps that most young people in their lives are probably talking about Harris positively. We’ll see if that pans out at the polls.
You paint with a broad brush. The numbers are around 50%.
50% is incredibly good for Democrats. Boomers and Gen X are about 50/50. Millennials are skewed left, as are Gen Z. And millennials are in their late 20s-30s. They’re a more reliable voting bloc now.
I give a lot of this to Trump not performing well on stage. He was always rambling, but now it’s not even on topic.
And it used to kinda “hopeful” rambling if that makes any sense, now it’s just sad rambling.
Generations are mostly a fiction anyway.
I’m starting to like this new time line.
Shhh, don’t jinx, long way to go.
I can guarantee you that in a few years there’ll be at least one sci-fi story about someone going back in time with some kind of future vaccine that makes Biden totally immune to COVID, preventing him from dropping out of the race and causing a fascist dystopia.
if anybody reads what the DNC voted on for their platform lowering aging people’s cost of healthcare was a big one and the rest of their platform was mostly for seniors to benefit off of it
more gerontocracy horseshit so no surprise people switched
we need a party for the younger people at this point that would fight for living wages and universal healthcare for all not just Medicare expansion and lowering prescription drug costs lowering that will mostly just help seniors
I mean helping seniors is important too. 1/3 have income below 200% of the poverty level, and the average SSI is $600/month.
But yeah, universal healthcare is a no-brainer.
Plus, 100% of younger Americans who live long enough will be seniors eventually
This comment is proof a certain segment of liberals just can’t be happy.
“just Medicare expansion and lowering prescription drug costs” Just?! Oh you mean just two issues which voters have been demanding for over 2 decades? Just what democrats have tried to accomplish forever but Republicans have blocked?
Political parties are capable of having and achieving multiple policy goals at once. Jesus christ.
yes a certain segment of people want living wages and healthcare for all and a plan to take care of this planet we live on and to stop killing other people on this earth
not liberal ideas fucking common sense
Me: hey, some sorely needed common sense reforms got passed. Rural hospitals in a majority of states have the desperately needed federal funds to stay open and people are less likely to die because they cant afford their life saving medicines, great right?
You: fucking idiot, not every problem on the planet has been solved! How dare you celebrate solving just one problem we’ve been fighting for a generation to get fixed!
He could see the forest if not for all these trees!
have you seen how these policies play out on the ground or do you wake up and drive to work and the grocery and home maybe a park
shit is not better because Democrats got voted in and we should demand more out of our leaders
work a job that has me in multiple states and the issues the politicians from both sides are claiming to be worked on are in piss poor shape
you want to talk about rural hospitals needing funds to stay open then lets talk about the policies and actions that got us here
both parties for decades have sold out the citizens to be underpaid, sick, undereducated, malnourished on bullshit food, and just basically left to suffer so their stocks and payouts can increase
Democrats just have a better costume
You sound more like an agitator trying to sow resentment than someone who actually believes in liberal values.
Shitting on anything except a magical savior that waves a wand and makes the world anew is a delusion, not politics.
Look at their post history. The smart money is on paid agitator.
You sound more like an agitator trying to sow resentment than someone who actually believes in liberal values.
There is a group that masquerades as “leftist” but they don’t actually believe in any leftist ideals. The only thing they care about is “Democrats bad”, and they want to see Democrats fail. Everything else is secondary. They’d rather see Trump win so they can say “I told you so” instead of seeing things get even a little bit better.
shit is not better because Democrats got voted in and we should demand more out of our leaders
You call a Republican majority in the House “Democrats voted in”? Do you call a 50-50 split Senate with Manchin to be “Democrats voted in”? How about we give them enough people in Congress to accomplish big things before throwing up our hands in exasperation that they didn’t accomplish enough. They need enough of a majority in the House and Senate that one or two rogue Democrats trying to make a name for themselves can’t derail anything and everything they want.
Democrats have had majority before and never upped the minimum wage sufficiently, citizens never got universal healthcare, workers never got better rights, never codified Roe v. Wade, and all the other things Democrats say they are about to the public
Okay, what happened the last time the Democratic Party had a filibuster-proof majority? Did they sit on their hands and do nothing, or did they pass the largest healthcare overhaul ever with 4 months of control?
Which party blocked the votes on all those other policies you love to point to? Oh, it’s that party you seem to have no interest in removing? How weird.
Get off of that Hasan Piker juice.
Living wages, healthcare for all, AND climate change are also part of the Harris Walz platform
we need a party for the younger people at this point that would fight for living wages and universal healthcare for all
Bruh, younger people couldn’t even show up to vote for a Democrat primary candidate who was fighting for those things. If they can’t do that, they’re sure as hell not going to be able to make a party lmao. And I say that as someone who was one of the younger people in 2020 and voted for Sanders in the primary. Young people needed to get their shit together, and based on 2022, it looks like they finally are getting there.
Oh, and lowering prescription drug prices helps a lot of people who aren’t geriatric, you fucking ableist. It would’ve helped me save a thousand or so over the last few years, at least. And that’s not accounting for my surprise medical emergency early this year. If you aren’t going to get off your high horse, then get out.
I think maybe your writeup here would look a lot better without the animosity. I’m not sayin being uncivil is always wrong, but I’m not seeing you reflecting it, you’re making it. here, let’s take a look at my edit:
Younger people couldn’t even show up to vote for a Democrat primary candidate who was fighting for those things. If they can’t do that, they’re sure as hell not going to be able to make a party. And I say that as someone who was one of the younger people in 2020 and voted for Sanders in the primary. Young people needed to get their shit together, and based on 2022, it looks like they finally are getting there.
And, lowering prescription drug prices helps a lot of people who aren’t geriatric. It would’ve helped me save a thousand or so over the last few years, at least. And that’s not accounting for my surprise medical emergency early this year.
Nothing of value was lost. No point was missed. It is now more persuasive. I assume that’s why you made it right?
Again, I’m not claiming i don’t like dunkin on assholes as much as the next guy. I critically agree with your point that reduced drug costs op was shitting on help everyone, and that ops complaint sounds like whining on its face. Im saying maybe you got hotter than you needed to here.
Y’know, I don’t disagree. I let myself get a bit too heated.
Yes, fuck the seniors dude.
No they aren’t.
I’m convinced.
The Independent - News Source Context (Click to view Full Report)
Information for The Independent:
MBFC: Left-Center - Credibility: Medium - Factual Reporting: Mixed - United Kingdom
Wikipedia about this sourceEmerson College Polling - News Source Context (Click to view Full Report)
Information for Emerson College Polling:
MBFC: Least Biased - Credibility: High - Factual Reporting: High - United States of America
Wikipedia about this sourceSearch topics on Ground.News
https://emersoncollegepolling.com/august-2024-national-poll-harris-50-trump-46/
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-harris-live-updates-vance-walz-rally-polls-b2596649.html
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/biden-harris-economy-campaign-b2597064.html
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-harris-baby-boomers-emerson-college-poll-b2598221.html
https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/joe-bidenLeft-Center? The independent is a neoliberal tabloid owned by a Russian oligarch and former KGB agent.
What a fucking joke.
Didn’t you know? Everyone that isn’t a foaming at the mouth Nazi is somehow left wing these days.
You’re referring to this guy? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evgeny_Lebedev
It seems you’re confusing him and his father: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Lebedev
This isn’t the flex Liberals think it is. Boomers are still boomers.
Idk man, I think it’s risky engaging in this kind of essentialism. Votes are votes and, when the alternative is Trump, I’ll take progress over perfection.
💯 No doubt. They’re merely pointing out that though the empirical winds of ignorance are currently blowing in our beneficial direction, it’s still not a good idea to pee into it. Their change is not rooted in a newfound sense of humanity, empathy, or understanding. It’s just the entitled temper tantrum du jour. They can still turn on the there-are-two-kinds-of-[nonwhite]-people heel midstream and now you’re just peeing on yourself.
And if we keep voting in politicians who are only slightly better than politicians that continue to get worse, how will that improve anything?
If we allow literal fascists into office who have floated the idea of killing liberals, how will that improve anything?
Do you think in 4 years they’re suddenly going to stop being evil?
Absolutely not. But the only way we have a chance at reform is if we bandaid the hemorrhaging.
And has doing that by voting for liberals ever worked?
This is a great argument if you understand nothing about how elections work.
No need to be an asshole, if you know so much about elections then answer my question. Explain how it will improve anything.
I like the idea of not having to hear trumps mouth. Short term win. What’s bugging me is these articles together though, headline after headline proclaiming victory at getting Republican votes. Are there headlines championing how many leftists have come back since Harris’ candidacy?
Maybe I’m missing them. But what i mean is… It seems like with every article they’re showing what they want, that this is what they’re planning, that pulling in right wing voters is the goal. This raises concerns, again, of the Democratic party’s ratcheting-right.
Ya get what I’m saying? I’m uncomfortable with how happy the dnc is to dismiss the left of their big tent and embrace the right. If they continue this process, only this process, the platform they show their constituents will move right to reflect their voting body (hypothetically lol).
Like that’s the best case scenario of this trend. And where that leads is away from leftists. Im not going to ratchet right, my legs are churning leftward, and me n folks like me are clinging on with our fingertips to a party that appears to want to be the nuGOP. How can a party acting like that currently respond to us, its current members?
I think it’s mainly just conventional thinking showing up: there’s an assumption that everyone that is going to vote will vote, therefore if team A is behind team B, the only way team A can win is if they take votes from team B.
I hear my colleagues speak like this all the time (and they’re quite educated and intelligent). I don’t think it’s the media trying to paint a picture where the left needs to be more right/center, I just think they’re writing articles in terms that their audience understands (or at least understands well enough to be able to sum up in a headline to get that valuable click for advertising)
Obviously our election numbers are more complex than that. You can convince eligible voters that werent going to show up to actually show instead. Convincing the other side to stay home is another effective method. Passing legislation that prevents the other side from showing up is even more effective, which is why we see a lot of voter suppression things going on.
The only solution is for all of us to start voting for an actually leftist 3rd party, forcing Democrats to come to us if they want our votes. That’s exactly how the Tea Party took over Republicans.
To be honest, there is some hope in Harris and this election, even if her platform could move much further to the left. If Trump gets whacked electorally, he might make the GOP implode, and there might be a slight chance of a swing over where the next major challenger of the Dem status quo would be one from the left.
But for that to happen, the Reps and Trump must be fucked up beyond recognition this election.
Unsure what that even means. That generation did a lot to kickstart a great many good things.
If you’ve somehow missed the nonstop “Boomers are bad” memes for the last 10 or so years I’m jealous
I haven’t. I’d still like someone to explain how boomers are somehow a unique “generation” that is any different from prior generations that had older people start vying for more conservative options as they get older.
By the way, especially based on recent economic data, I bet Gen Y and Gen Z might even be worse as they get older. Might take a bit to see it show up, though. I’d like things to be otherwise, but I have yet to see credible reason to believe they will be…
