Dear kids,

We, the generation in power since World War II, seem to have used up pretty much everything ourselves. We kind of drained all the resources out of our manufacturing industries, so there's not much left there. The beautiful old buildings that were build to last for centuries, we tore down and replaced with characterless but inexpensive structures, and you can have them. Except everything we built had a lifespan about the same as ours, so like the interstate highway system we built, they're all falling apart now and you'll have to deal with that. We used up as much of our natural resources as we could, without providing for renewable ones, so you're probably only good until about a week from Thursday. We did build a generous Social Security and pension system, but that was just for us. In fact, the only really durable thing we built was toxic dumps. You can have those. So think of your inheritance as a challenge. The challenge of starting from scratch. You can begin as soon as -- oh, one last thing -- as soon as you pay off the two trillion dollar debt we left you.

Your parents

"In 2004, first time and new registrant Democrat voters made up 13 percent of all the early votes cast. Thus far in 2008, it's about 12.6 percent of all the early votes cast."

The McCain campaign says their internal polling numbers say Iowa is a dead heat. That's another place Kerry led in early voting, but ultimately lost the state to Bush. In Pennsylvania, here's what the McCain campaign is thinking - this is Christian Ferry again:

"In Pennsylvania, if you look at absentee ballot returns, the GOP is leading by about 56 percent to 44 percent in terms of returns. Younger Democrat voters in 2004 made up 22.9 percent of the absentee votes. Thus far in 2008, it's 14 percent of the -- 14.6 percent of the early -- absentee vote."

Want more? C'mon! Vegetables are good for you! We'll have dessert later, I promise!

An Orlando Sentinel analysis of early voting in Florida found that, "Young people are turning out in disproportionately low numbers ... making them the worst-performing demographic group."

The Sentinel says only 15 percent of early voters in Florida are under the age of 35, even though that group makes up a quarter of the electorate.

All that talk in the Democratic primaries about how young people were proving the haters wrong by actually showing up to vote even though everyone says they don't? Are the haters gonna turn out to actually be right?

Labels: millenials, voters

Fifty percent of American adults age 40-59 – The Baby Boomers – feel that the government is doing too much to solve Wall Street’s problems, according to a new poll by TV Land. Twenty-five percent feel that the government is not doing enough about the Wall Street crisis and 25% don’t know if there should be more or less government involvement. This is just one of the findings in a new poll conducted by OTX on behalf of TV Land, a division of Viacom Inc.'s (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B) MTV Networks, as part of TV Land’s overall commitment to superserve this 40- and 50-something demographic.

The TV Land poll also shows 94% of Boomers – the country’s largest generation – plan to go to the polls next month, with 82% of those polled saying they are extremely likely to vote. The impact of this finding is enormous as this generation had the highest turnout of voters in the 2004 Presidential election. Obama voters are more determined to make their voices heard as 89% of his supporters say they are extremely likely to vote compared to 82% of McCain supporters and 58% of undecideds. The survey also shows that regardless of whom they are voting for, the majority of people in this demographic (54%) believe that Barack Obama will win the 2008 Presidential election this November. Twenty-five percent believe John McCain will win and 20% are unsure of the outcome of the November vote. The poll also found that if the election were held today, the country’s largest generation would elect Barack Obama to office capturing 48% of the vote. John McCain would get 40% of the Boomer vote and 12% of Boomers are either unsure or voting for someone else.

...

Although the candidates declined to criticize the readiness of their opposing Vice Presidential candidates in last night’s Presidential debate, when asked about the Vice President candidates, nearly two-thirds of people in their 40s and 50s (64%) say Joe Biden is prepared for the job of Vice President of the United States. Thirty-four percent feel Palin is prepared. Contrastingly, Sarah Palin is seen by 47% of the demo as not prepared for the job versus the 13% who think Biden isn’t prepared. The majority of Boomers (51%) say that Biden helped Obama’s chances of being elected and 45% say Palin helped McCain. Nearly one-fifth (18%) say Biden hurt Obama’s chances, while 34% say Palin hurt MCain.

While both candidates have a “change” platform, 48% of Boomer voters find Barack Obama more believable when he talks about “change” while 21% say John McCain is more believable. Nine percent say both candidates are believable when they talk about “change” and 18% say neither candidate. Only 4% of this generation doesn’t know which candidate is more believable. Nearly nine in ten Boomer voters (86%) say that things in this country are heading on the wrong track. Among Barack Obama supporters, that number jumps to 92% who say the country is on the wrong track. Twenty-three percent of McCain supporters say the country is on the right track, compared to only 8% of Obama supporters.

Labels: baby boomers, voters

Labels: Craig Ferguson, voters

It's pretty easy, based on the exit polls, to see where we went wrong. We had the black vote at 18% when it turned out to be 14-15%, and we had the under 45 vote at 41% when it turned out to be 31%.

Labels: voters

"You people are really nuts...There’s kids dying in the war, the price of oil right now — there’s better things in this world to be thinking about than who served Hillary Clinton at Maid-Rite and who got a tip and who didn’t get a tip." -- Maid's Rite Diner waitress Anita Esterday, to a reporter, commenting on Tipgate.

Labels: smackdown, voters

More than half of Americans between 17 and 29 years old — 54 percent — say they intend to vote for a Democrat for president in 2008. They share with the public at large a negative view of President Bush, who has a 28 percent approval rating with this group, and of the Republican Party. They hold a markedly more positive view of Democrats than they do of Republicans.

Among this age group, Mr. Bush’s job approval rating after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, was more than 8 in 10. Over the course of the next three years, it drifted downward leading into the presidential election of 2004, when 4 out of 10 members of young Americans said they approved how Mr. Bush was handling his job.

At a time when Democrats have made gains after years in which Republicans have dominated Washington, young Americans appear to lean slightly more to the left than the general population: 28 percent described themselves as liberal, compared with 20 percent of the nation at large. And 27 percent called themselves conservative, compared with 32 percent of the general public.

Forty-four percent said they believed that same-sex couples should be permitted to get married, compared with 28 percent of the public at large. They are more likely than their elders to support the legalization of possession of small amounts of marijuana.

The findings on gay marriage were reminiscent of a survey of voters leaving the polls on election day 2004: 41 percent of 18-to-29-year-old voters said gay couples should be permitted to legally marry, according to an exit poll at the time.

Labels: voters, youth