Senior Voters Run Back to the GOP

The inroads Democrats made in 2006 and 2008 among senior citizens, who traditionally vote Republican, has ended. Among all the groups who fled the Democrats last week, seniors exited in the largest numbers, Politico reports.

Voters over 65 supported Republicans over Democrats last week by a resounding 21-percentage-point margin, after Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain bested Barack Obama by only 8 points in 2008.

Seniors don’t like the changes made to Medicare in the new healthcare law, and they appreciate the GOP’s promise to return the country to greatness. They weren’t moved by Democratic charges that Republicans would gut Social Security.

“I’ve been saying since August 2009, that there was a tsunami — in this case a senior citizen tsunami — headed towards Capitol Hill,” says Jim Martin, chairman of the conservative 60 Plus Association. “That tsunami came ashore.”