The Cultural Gulf Between the Presidential Candidates

"The demographic bases of the rival coalitions couldn’t be more different. Monday’s poll from the Pew Research Center is just the latest to show Obama with a decisive lead (in this case, 21 percentage points) among voters younger than 30. Obama’s margin declines to six points among voters ages 30 through 44, and he breaks even with Romney among voters ages 45 through 64. Romney’s home turf is voters 65 and older; among those, he leads Obama by 19 points. Age polarization is not specific to the presidential election. On a host of issues, as diverse as same-sex-marriage attitudes, gay and lesbian rights and skepticism about the merits of capitalism, polls have shown that younger voters are consistently more tolerant and well to the left of their elders."

--Harold Meyerson, Washington Post (Tuesday)

(Graph: scarborough.com)