Why do older folks tend to vote for Republicans?

[baldguy]

Inability to Detect Sarcasm, Lies May Be Early Sign of Dementia, UCSF Study Shows

By asking a group of older adults to analyze videos of other people conversing -- some talking truthfully, some insincerely -- a group of scientists at the University of California, San Francisco has determined which areas of the brain govern a person's ability to detect sarcasm and lies.

Some of the adults in the group were healthy, but many of the test subjects had neurodegenerative diseases that cause certain parts of the brain to deteriorate. The UCSF team mapped their brains using magnetic resonance imaging, MRI, which showed associations between the deteriorations of particular parts of the brain and the inability to detect insincere speech.

"These patients cannot detect lies," said UCSF neuropsychologist Katherine Rankin, PhD, a member of the UCSF Memory and Aging Center and the senior author of the study. "This fact can help them be diagnosed earlier."

more
http://www.ucsf.edu/news/2011/04/9719/inability-detect-sarcasm-lies-may-be-early-sign-dementia-ucsf-study-shows

[DCBob]

1. Tend to be more conservative and easily manipulated with fearmongering.

Sad.

[tridim]

2. Same reason scam artists and televangelists target older people.

Repukes know this all too well.

[Bonhomme Richard]

3. My brother, who retired recently, now votes Democratic.

Ain't that a kicker.

[sasha031]

4. why are seniors so often target of successful scams

it's sad, the article is a fascinating look at what happens as we get older.

I have often wondered how a generation that grew up with the New Deal can be duped into voting to dismantle it.

[Wounded Bear]

5. Living in the past....

I swear, most of the ones who do vote R are longing for the "good old days" that didn't really exist outside of 1950's Hollywood sitcoms and think they are voting for the ghost of Eisenhower. Today, Ike would be more liberal than Obama.

Meanwhile, they're being fooled into thinking current R's and TBers have anything approaching gravitas.

[dimbear]

37. This is the correct bad news. Older folks still voting for a Republican

Party that hasn't existed for generations. The one that still had a conscience of sorts.

[Auntie Bush]

6. Because they lose brain matter as they get older?

:rofl:

[Zookeeper]

7. I've noticed an awful lot of 40-somethings who vote...

Rethuglican and are younger and far less Liberal than me. They tend to believe Reagan was god.

[markpkessinger]

43. Agreed -- says this 50 year old.

[leftstreet]

8. Wait a minute...didn't seniors vote heavily for Obama?

:shrug:

[Andy823]

9. Well...

Older people usually don't like change, plus they can be more gullible when it comes to buying into the republican lies! One thing republicans are good at is putting the blame for everything they do wrong on the democrats, and democrats usually simply don't fight back. Now from what I have been reading here today, and seeing on TV, democrats may be making a change for the better, and actually fighting back!

If democrats can learn to fight back, go on the attack and point out the lies by republicans, they can beat them and their lies come the next election!

[Mojorabbit]

38. Plus they do not understand that cable news is

entertainment, ie fox. They think these people are reporting straight news.

[roguevalley]

45. yeah, gullible. not like the younger set that doesn't even

vote and the college refucks and all the rest. Stereotyping groups is bs.

[sofa king]

10. Interesting. Toss in inability to understand analogies and you have a Dittohead.

[patrick t. cakes]

11. stroll through a college campus...

libertarianism is the new radicalism. it ain't just the older folk,
the kids are brainwashed too.

[Zookeeper]

22. I've had some very disturbing "discussions" with young...

Libertarians. The ones I've encountered are incredibly rigid, frequently nasty and convinced of their superiority.

[patrick t. cakes]

46. yep

the me generation on steroids.

[eridani]

12. In 2010 they favored Repukes by 21% because of being lied to about Medicare

There was no pushback by Dems. And, no, a bunch of wonky crap with charts and graphs is not pushback--there should have been a counterattack in terms of values. There was not.

[cali]

13. where are the polls supporting your contention? Post them, please.

And by older adults who do you mean? Those over 50? Those over 55? 60? Generally, seniors have supported dems, as far as I know.

[baldguy]

34. 2008

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/results/president/

[enough]

14. Because they get more of their news/views from TV and less daily vivid input from the outside world.

Yes I know this is a generalization, but I think it is a major factor.

[loudsue]

15. I'm an old folk, and I wouldn't vote for that slime.

Not now, not in the past, not ever.

[Fuzz]

16. I think part of it is their desire for things to not change, fear of new things and thinking.

And if there is anything conservatives fear, it's change.

[Island Blue]

17. My parents who are in their 70's have become

much more liberal as the years have progressed. Of course no longer living in the deep South (where they both grew up), not having a television for the past 25 years and listening to NPR night and day have probably helped to spur their move to the left. Edited to say, having two very liberal children (my brother & I) who live close by probably hasn't hurt either.

[Ed Suspicious]

18. Cynicism. An "if you can't beat'em join'em" mentality.

[RagAss]

19. I'll go with the rotting brain theory. Makes the most sense.

[aquart]

20. Did they check the same quality in younger people?

Because there are a whole lot of them.

[Worried senior]

21. I Am a Senior

and I have voted Democratic forever. Not all of us are brain dead, we read this forum don't we.

[frebrd]

27. +1!

[OKNancy]

23. I hate posts like this

I really dislike poking fun at one particular group and lumping together everyone.
I know the OP was intended to be humorous, but some of the response are just ignorant.

By the same token... women voted for Obama in far greater percentages than me. I guess that means all men are ( fill in the blank)

[yellowwood]

24. When did you stop beating your wife question--

But seriously

If Some older people vote Republican, it may be

That Republicans weren't so evil back in the day. My parents were Republicans.

They may have more accumulated money that they think that they need to protect.

They probably watch more television news, including Fox.

They may feel more vulnerable and afraid. After all, they can't "start over."

[frebrd]

25. I've been voting exclusively Democratic since 1958......

when I voted for Jerry Brown's father (for CA Governor).

At 75, I'm not likely to start voting Repuglican!

[bluestate10]

26. People that are older than 55 were children or adults during a time

when open statements that were grossly racist, sexist and homophobic were often welcomes by audiences. Times have changed, but the last tail of a darker era in the nation's history is still dying off. Many elders vote their residual hate, but every law that they help to get passed will be reversed within the next two decades.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

28. Republicanites appeal to the SOCIAL conservatism of older voters

the ones who were too old to experience the 1960s as youth.

Having lived through the era, I remember how appalled older people were by the changes in behavioral standards and the challenges to the traditional social order.

On the other hand, both my mother and stepfather became more liberal as they aged.

[L. Coyote]

29. Too much propaganda in the Fifties, but don't worry too much because

Even though people don't change, old people die :rofl:

[hayu_lol]

31. What is this...pick on seniors day?

Buzz word missing in thread title was **SOME** seniors...not all, Baldy.

The seniors I know are those who have adopted the phrase...'get off my lawn.'

Oh yeah...you young twirps may well grow up and be real adults someday.

[L. Coyote]

32. I'm a senior by a long shot, so it is self-directed humor

[Curmudgeoness]

35. You are really sick. Too bad though, there are always

more old people coming down the road as some die. I am just grateful that my brain is not rotting yet.

If I ever vote Republican, would someone please just euthanize me.

[Brigid]

36. That's supposed to be funny?

Fail. :eyes:

[AngryOldDem]

30. My mom was Republican because her folks were.

It's that simple. Although, I think toward the end she was finally seeing a glimmer of light.

[SheilaT]

33. I'm 62, have always voted Democratic.

Heck, I even ran for office in 2004 as a Dem. The older I get, the more liberal I get.

Be very careful of generalizations.

[UTUSN]

39. Why do minorities vote Rethug?!1 n/t

[UTUSN]

40. Why do VETERANS vote Rethug?!1 n/t

[femmocrat]

44. Why do TEACHERS vote Rethug?!

Drives me crazy. but they do. And a lot of the younger teachers don't even bother to register. Dumbasses.

[NorthCarolina]

41. Only Diebold knows for sure. nt

[Chorophyll]

42. Your subject line and your link are about two different things.

I guess you're trying to be funny by drawing a parallel between dementia and older people voting for Republicans, but no one's actually reading the link.

Anyway, I can't stand sweeping generalizations. My mother is 85 and has never voted for a Republican in her life, and she knows exactly who's full of crap. She and my dad (rest his soul) got more liberal as they aged.