Essential Statistics *

by Susan Carroll, Center for American Women and Politics

Older Americans participate, and they participate at higher levels than voters of other age groups.

Older citizens register to vote at significantly higher rates than young or middle-aged citizens.

• 78% of Americans age 55 or older were registered in 2000, compared with 63% of Americans under the age of 45.
• 42.5 million citizens age 55 or older were register to vote in 2000, and they constituted about one-third of all registered voters.

Older Americans also turn out to vote at a higher rate than younger Americans.

• 70% of Americans age 55 or older turned out to vote in 2000, compared with 51% of Americans under the age of 45.
• 38.1 million citizens age 55 or older voted in the 2000 election, and they constituted just over a third of all voters in that election.

Senior voters are likely to play an important role in determining the outcome of the 2004 presidential race in critical battleground states.

• For example, in Ohio, voters 65 or older constituted 21.5% of all voters in 2000. While the rate of voter turnout for all citizens in the state of Ohio in 2000 was 59%, among senior voters, those 65 or older, the rate of voter turnout was 66%.
• In Florida, voters 65 or over constituted 28% of all voters in the 2000 election. While overall turnout in Florida was 60% for all citizens in 2000, the rate of turnout was 72% among voters age 65 or older.

Finally, older voters are more likely to be female than male.

• Of the Americans age 55 and older who voted in the 2000 elections, 54% were women.

*Note: All statistics are from the US Census Bureau. For more information, see “Voting and Registration in the Election of November 2000.” Current Population Reports. February 2002.

Fast Facts About Grandparents

• The average age of first-time grandparents is 48.
• About one-third of American adults are grandparents.
• The United States has 70 million grandparents, and the total will be 80 million by 2010 as the Baby Boom generation of 76 million people (born between 1946 and 1964) become grandparents.
• The number of children living with and/or being cared for by their grandparents has increased by 30 percent over the last decade.
• More than 6 percent of America's children live with their grandparents today.
• America's grandparents spend more than $30 billion a year on their grandkids, double what was spent a decade ago.
• In the past 30 years, the number of great-grandparents actively involved in their great-grandchildren's lives has increased tenfold.
  

Fast Facts About Mature Voters

• People 55 or older are 21 percent of the entire U.S. population - 59.6 million people in 2002. This equals the populations of New York, California and Massachusetts combined.
• The number of Americans 65 and older alone is expected to be 20 percent of the population by 2030, or 71.5 million, double the current count.
• In the 2000 presidential election, 70 percent of people 55 to 64 voted, as did 72 percent of those 65 to 74, compared to 32 percent of 18-to-24-year-olds.
• An October 2003 survey by Lake Snell Perry & Associates and the Tarrance Group shows 88 percent of older voters say they would prefer a candidate who listens to young voters over one who focuses on older people like them.
• An AARP 2004 survey asked voters over 55 in the New Hampshire Primary about issues very important to them in selecting a presidential candidate. Overwhelmingly, they favor issues critical to future generations: they ranked strengthening the economy and creating jobs (79%) and improving education (61%) over strengthening and preserving traditional Medicare (59%), or expanding Medicare to cover prescription drugs (56%).

Sources: AARP, American Demographics, Census Bureau, NDP Group, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Travel Industry Association of America, Roper Organization.