.


In university, it is taught that politics and religion share common brain centers and psychological attributes.


Now, the following is just one factor that influences voter decision, and will probably be distorted...


People who view themselves as pious, or more religiously affiliated tend to resist adaptation, whereas people who are agnostic, atheistic, or are casually connected to religion are more adaptive to divergent political thought and are receptive to entertaining other candidates more objectively. On the whole, those who are older tend to be more religiously invested, whereas the Millenials are not as invested.


Hillary Clinton was the institutional favorite going into this campaign cycle. The people gradually swaying to Bernie Sanders probably identify as less religiously pious or devout than those who retain or sway towards Hillary as changing a candidate is tantamount to a religious conversion.--that would account from some of the resistance in accepting factual data presented here. There is a religious subset that won't vote for Sanders because he is Jewish, since there is a large section of the country who align evangelical or orthodox. But, everyone is self-affecting to some degree or another and will overlook religious differences if their needs are being met.


A religious or political conversion occurs with the more stubborn when there are suddenly high levels of stress, abandonment, or trauma. It will be difficult for people to reevaluate a political candidate because many see that as akin to abandoning their own religion. I get it, having studied cults and the allure of being in a closed group that love-bombs their members with support. But, like with almost all cult members or closed religious orders, when the influence is removed, they will eventually return to normal thought. This means that even Republicans, evangelicals, and those who are conservative leaning can be swayed to the Democratic Party, if the proper methods are being used. So, just like a church, trying to attract new congregants... don't build those walls, but be receptive to them.



So, the points I am trying to make are:

1) there is a direct tie between the religiosity of people and their ability to change candidates or ideas;

2) if a political conversion is about to take place in someone, they need to feel welcome in another camp;

3) more direct articles need to be posted highlighting the strife in the country to force a conversion;

4) when people feel their 'faith' or candidate are under attack, they dig in their heels and shut down dialog.



I see #4 here a lot. There is such a rigid mindset with about a dozen or so posters that feel they must defend their candidate, almost as though their own religion and beliefs are under attack. In some ways it's comical, in other ways, it's pathetic.


Now, nothing I posted is against any one person, but in the light of how the totalitarian ban-hammer drops, it would not surprise me if this post gets flagged because it is hurtful somehow. That would mean that the person(s) who feel harmed are internalizing these comments, because deep down, they know it applies to them. Someone will probably see the word 'cult' and misinterpret what I am trying to convey.


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Leaders, by definition, look ahead, promote inspiration and hope and then people whose heels are not dug in will follow. Except Category 4 ... They fear going into unknown territory or any kind.

Thus, Hillary wants to "conserve" the status quo now Oligarchy.. Bernie wants to lead us our into something that includes All People, thus Revolution. ..anti-Oligarchy. This is an age old dyad...thankfully we get to play it out in a voting booth.

America was begun on just this precept...Out with the Oligarchy/Royalty, in with the pioneers and early American Leaders. They all were considered daft, traitors, and well...most know the history. Remember the Mayflower !

We've come full circle in a very short historical amount of time...based on the internet and instant communication. I see very little philosophical difference.

it is not about issues for them

feel kind of embarrassed that I sat by for so long and just blindly voted Democratic no matter how much damage they did. Well no more!

Of a Millenial daughter. She loves Bernie. As a matter of fact, she came to me last September and said "mom, have you heard of this guy Bernie Sanders?" Ha! One of my prouder moments.

We are all supporting Bernie - I'm very proud of them as you are of your daughter. They are so smart, and can SEE THROUGH the charade that I always bought into. So - my story is much the same as yours.

One point about Gen-Xers - I feel as if we're lost in this election; we pay the brunt of taxes, yet making sure SS is solvent for us doesn't seem to be much of a priority for anyone other than Bernie. I want everyone in our generation to take a stand with the kiddos!

save enough for retirement such as 401(k)s and such and so will need SS even more. We must have politicians who are willing to not only say not to cuts but who will fight to expand SS, and that person sure as hell is not Hillary.

I don't think progressive and Hillary are on speaking terms. Hillary thinks the end justifies the means.

Progressive, liberal, socialist etc. Hillary only became a progressive recently...by any other name, honestly, does she have a belief system that can be believed, beyond power and money?

The ends justify the means with too many people but maybe we disagree?!

Hillary will never be elected. History and words matter. What do you find promising in Hillary and how can you trust what she says?

Good luck to you!

Progressives support New Deal policies.

many differences are conjured, imagined for political race

So single payer universal healthcare is a free lunch? Opening up educational access to higher grade levels is free lunch?

Your average GOPper would agree.

...as long as there is a GOP Congress. So the question is what do we get with either Clinton or Sanders and a GOP Congress?

The Clintons have a history of siding with GOP agendas like foreign regime change and trade agreements that screw over the American worker. Hillary has very recently supported regime change in Libya and Syria. She has very recently flip-flopped on the TPP agreement due to the primary campaign. Meanwhile the Chamber of Commerce says they expect her to sign it if she becomes POTUS. So is she privately telling the Chamber of Commerce something very different from the public campaign she is running?

I think we know what we would get from Bernie on both TPP and regime change in places like Syria: a big fat "screw you" to the GOP Congress. I would prefer to see perfect gridlock with Sanders than the Clintons continuing to sign into law crappy stuff for the public, just like Bill did in the 1990's when the GOP controlled Congress.

Serious question. You can say fuck my principles all you want, but the fact of the matter is the GOP will not agree to pass anything along the lines of ACA.

and I don't agree with you; so please, in the future, don't use the word "we" when you're talking about your own point of view.
You don't speak for me.

So glad to see it here

please don't steriotype and I will leave it at that .

The sell out boomers were then and still are that now. They sold us out too so, we know about them.

Get it big time!

It is the way ads get sold and the way they get paid but there are dozens of others ways to cut the data.

In a typical mass market sales campaign, you use multivariate analysis to cluster and segment your prospects. In other words you let the data tell you what the groupings are. This is in contrast to forcing the data into the segments.

So if you are selling something like organic milk for example, you will see a big cluster for new mothers / young families and you can create messages that address their concerns directly. You would never see that cluster if you were cutting the data by race or Boomer vs. Gen X.

In politics, people have reasons why they self-identify as GOP, Dem or Indy. Those reasons are key to connecting with them. No one sits around and thinks 'well I am a Millennial therefore our issues are best addressed by this or that candidate.' It is completely backward.

it's boomer this, millenial that. I guess we should be glad.

...what's not to like?

I support Bernie enthusiastically.

This article is sort of condescending crap.

For Bernie here. 56 years old.

I am for Bernie, so is my genx son and millennial son. And my mother. I am the one who got them into Bernie.

were still in diapers.

simply from a lifetime of hearing politicians make promise you know they can't keep.

If Bernie was a transformational figure in America, he would have done a lot more than he has instead of spending a lifetime impotently on the fringes of power.

the world is not perfect and neither are our leaders.

The fact is, she so arrogant and greedy, she didn't refrain from a dash for the cash immediately after exiting State, and while working with Ready for Hillary on her run for the presidency.

do you even read what you write? You can't even argue politics with a fellow Democrat without insults and vitriol. Come on - this is a discussion board. Surely you are capable of civil discussion regardless of your personal frustration.

But I do think many Boomer women will vote for Hillary because of the chance for "the first woman President." I see it in a number of friends and neighbors in their 60's and 70's.

and I know Republican Bernie Boomers as well, here in swing-state Virginia!

wiser as they age.

Yeats said: An aged man is but a paltry thing
A tattered coat upon a stick
Unless soul clap its hands and sing
And louder sing, for every tattered in its mortal dress

And I completely get him. I support Hillary.

and totally support Bernie Sanders.

What surprised me is that my 30-year-old son thinks Hillary knows more about foreign policy and he thinks that's what the POTUS is all about! I am in the process of convincing him otherwise.

Don't know about my 40-year-old and 26-year-old son and 23-year-old daughter.

West Virginian Woman for Bernie!

Old Boomer, Vet. etc.

We Boomers were raised at a time when schools taught history AND civics.
We remember when Republicans loved unions and built the Interstate Highways.
We've been here all along and have watched in dismay as the Dem party lost it's way.
The author over a NR just made a bad assumption and ran with it.

It isn't age that accounts for her support. A doctor friend (psych) said it's more
about something I can't mention without being censored.

they were children under Fordism and the rebuilding of Europe: this boomtime is how they remember how things "should" be, where one job is enough for a sturdy 1,200-ft2 ranchette, a lawn, a car, degrees for the kids, and healthcare

Japan and Germany start selling cars here and the emergence of any sort of competitor for Detroit starts *a wholesale deindustrialization of the nation*; the Boomers enter early adulthood in the 70s, during stagflation and a well-funded war on "red tape"; the groovy architecture built in the 50s and 60s is replaced with Brutalist fortresses or just rotting concrete; even Amtrak keeps on shriveling, cutting routes as the tracks literally fall apart: all the promises of high school and college activism, of a new society or accountability for warmongers and antidemocrats, are dashed: the pocketbook rather than social issues becomes the focus

in the 80s a lot of them benefit from the fire sale of the state's involvement in the economy--they were raised on the milk of the state cow (and now they wanted burgers); the Age of Limits was over (and Riyadh indeed opens the spigots); unbound from overregulation and taxation the economy would bound upwards, and while the rich would get superrich the standing of the poor would double--make the pie bigger, rather than slicing it differently

while the actual failure of the system under the shiny happy surface made many swing left after 1981, the booms and bubbles made people think that "oh, the bad time's over and the economy's finally hit on a solid foundation for growth--oil and penny stocks mid-80s, S&Ls late 80s, telecom/IT early 90s, energy and dotcoms late 90s, housing mid-00s, oil shale early 10s; as long as enough people benefited from the corporate raiders' nakedly-unsustainable way of doing things there'd be no revolt

but now people aren't living as they "should": even the yuppies in their McMansions now know what it's like to get a pink slip and wonder how they'll negotiate with the sheriff once he comes to drag all their stuff to the sidewalk

it's a long and complex trajectory (or whatever)

and other than one or two people we know and hang out with are boomers for Bernie.

I too am very grateful for the Millennials who are doing a ton of work here for Bernie.

The Boomers who don't "get" Bernie now are the same ones who didn't "get" us being counterculture back in the day. Young Republican types.

My political views really haven't changed much in the past 50 years.

They are also the sell out boomers. Sold out when they got "theirs". This boomer will not sell out for twenty pieces of silver.

I'm the first of the baby boomers 1946..we are not morons out here. Feeling the Bern!

doesn't prove anything, just my little perspective.

Low information voters TEND to support Clinton.
High information voters TEND to support Sanders.

Remember that Clinton obfuscates and lies about her opponents (both Sanders and Obama).
While both Sanders and Obama run and ran clean and clear campaigns.

I was born in '61, near the end of the Baby Boom. I am pleased that so many Millenials and GenXrs are supporting Bernie, but I've really had it with these ageist articles needlessly pitting one generation against another. Enough already!

as is my bro. we're 60 and 56.

Thank you.

Yep

I'm a boomer, and I not only get him, I dig him.

Yes, you're down with Bernie, and you're atypical. You're political junkies, paying attention to everything, like everyone on this site. So it's not surprising that so many of you are pro-Bernie, just like us Gen-X political junkies. But boomers and Gen-Xers alike voted in Clinton, then voted in Obama. We supported, ON AVERAGE, centrist politicians, and the Millennials, bless them (and I mean that seriously, not sarcastically) are now doing what they can to try and undo some of the damage our generations did, even if we personally are now in sync with them.

I am working my ass off to get Bernie in the WH.

For me, there is no place for HRC amongst the 99%

around in the age of the baby boomer. In fact, liberalism probably peaked in the 1960's and 1970's, until it was pummeled by Reagan in the 1980's.

You would think that many boomers who were liberals during that time, would find Bernie very appealing--and a welcome sign to return to better days.

It's obvious that our government has failed us and is now on corporate steroids.

You would think that Boomers welcome a resurgence of FDR-style politics.

I'm at the tail end of the Boomer generation ('64) and I think Sanders is the best thing to happen to the Democratic party, in my lifetime.

and I think the way you do. Well said!

Bernie's a New Deal Democrat." -Dick Van Dyke, 90, to Matthews. He's got it right on socialism too.

I know DVD's not a boomer, but I've been looking for somewhere to post this. And since I'm a boomer for Bernie, figured this was as good a place as any.

Loved it!

One thing that this article makes clear is that back in the 60s and 70s a great many young people were easily able to get the education to join the professional-managerial class and with that came a change in values. These workers began to believe that they and management had the same goals. Very few of us wanted to joint labor unions--we're professionals aren't we? Unions are for unmotivated, layabouts not for people like us. Union rules cramp my style. Sure, unions were necessary back in the early 20th century, they would argue, but not now.

I was an outlier. I remember working with the Teamsters to organize my fellow tour guides at the South Street Seaport--most of these were college grads making minimum wage. After the vote failed many of those who had voted against it later told me that they had made a mistake but at the time they were certain that a union was not needed nor wanted. Many people my age cheered when Reagan broke the Air Traffic Controllers' union. Unions were corrupt. They protected the lazy and incompetent. We did not need them. We were exceptional.

Liberals my age concentrated on what an old lefty co-worker of mine derisively called "sandal wearer" issues. Environmentalism, feminism, gay rights and various ethnic identity movements. I was, of course, heartily offended. I was after all a feminist, an environmentalist, pro gay rights and of course a strong supporter of civil rights but he had a point. We were totally ignoring the elephant in the room--the growing power of the investor class--people who did not share our values or gave a damn about what happened to us. We were exceptionally naïve.

Many people my age may feel more of a class conscious attitude now that the powers that be have decided that they too are expendable but quite a few, I'm afraid prefer to double down on their previous ideas. They are, after all exceptional.

I didn't want Hillary in 2008 either.

Signed, sealed, and delivered to Collier County, Florida. Did I mention that I voted for Hillary as my Senator??? Born in 48.

'Cause goddess knows we haven't had one in about 45 minutes.

Member of the Catalano Generation here. I get Bernie. I am just not voting for him.

Create market segments by age , race relgion and education then apply sales pitches aimed at the groups .Unfortunately politics is a form of advertising to appeal to us market segments .Real life has been replaced with media becoming the message = may the biggest market group take all but that sure isn't a good way to run a goverment .

as are all but 2 of the Boomers I know. The two are a couple cousins and, I'm sorry to say, at least one is voting just on gender lines. My aunt, their mom who is in her 90s, confided to me that she's pulling for Bernie but she doesn't want those two to know. Sadly, Auntie doesn't feel up to making it to the caucus next Tuesday.

I've no problem getting Bernie and his policies.

They're both Boomers.

I really don't know a soul voting for Hillary.