This is disheartening. Obviously, it's evidence that Democrats have to work harder to convey the true awfulness of Ryanism, and it's evidence that opinions on the subject track opinions of Obama and Democrats in general, rather than nearness to retirement age. But I think there's another point to be made, as I'll explain below:
Gallup: Seniors Most Favorable To Ryan Budget
A new Gallup/USA Today poll contains a counterintuitive finding: the age group most receptive to House Budget Chair Paul Ryan's plan to deal with the budget - seniors.
The poll finds 48 percent of seniors (those 65 and over) support Ryan's plan over President Obama's plan, while 42 percent back the president.
That's the highest total among the age groups tested - a 47 percent plurality between the ages of 50 and 64 backed Ryan, and a 45 percent plurality of those between 30-49 backed Ryan. But young voters overwhelmingly sided with Obama by a 23-point margin, 53 to 30 percent....
Beyond their approval of Obama, one reason young people might not be falling Ryanism is that they don't pay a whole lot of attention to the bigfoot news sources -- not just grampa's beloved Fox, but CNN and the three major networks and the mainstream print press. All of them have been in the tank for Ryan to a greater or lesser extent, and all have lectured us about the need to be "serious" and have "adult conversations" about the deficit and debt. Young people, who'll be running the country soon, aren't responding to these lectures because they're just not listening.
And perhaps, given the fact that they don't remember the '60s and '70s and do remember the '00s, they're not automatically ready to assume that Democratic ideas are evil, and they are ready to assume that Republicans are acting in bad faith unless proven otherwise (the latter, of course, is an accurate assessment).
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Here are the Gallup numbers, by the way (click to enlarge):
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