"President Biden's favorability rating sinks to 25% among voters under 35 years old via Quinnipiac poll."

https://twitter.com/ryanstruyk/status/1715144660274774522

  • zifnab25 [he/him, any]
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    It isn't a generational divide, it is an exposure-over-time issue.

    Folks who were breast-beating foot-stomping anti-war activists in their teens/20s regress into milquetoast "both sides" moderates in their 30s/40s and eventually metasticize into ghoulish chud reactionaries as their diet of right-wing cable news/talk radio eclipses the volume of grass between their toes. Folks who stay clear don't ride this wave of reaction. And folks who keep in tune with other left-leaning groups and attend like-minded events tend to go with the flow, rather than clinging to drive-time AM radio bigotry.

    You can watch this happen in near-real time if you actually know anyone who regularly watches that shit. Hearing my mom spout the most reactionary beliefs and views - she frantically texted me the other day to warn about people in the streets attacking anyone who looked Jewish - is a daily reminder of what the toxic slug of network news does to people.

    Incidentally, if you ever meet one of those bow-tie high school dorks, ask them what magazines/websites they recommend. I guaran-fucking-tee you'll get pointed to some combination of The Economist, the WSJ, and the Financial Times. Watch for the kids with the deeply reactionary views and see whether they've been tuning into their parent's OAN/Newsmax subscriptions. See how many Hillary Clinton liberals are ride-or-die for NPR and the BBC and the Atlantic.

    Its always and forever the media diet. Age isn't a factor, except in how heavily exposed you get to this bullshit.

    • BeamBrain [he/him]
      ·
      1 year ago

      Age isn't a factor, except in how heavily exposed you get to this bullshit.

      That does lead to the question of why older people gravitate toward right-wing media, though.

      • zifnab25 [he/him, any]
        ·
        1 year ago

        Idk if they gravitate towards it so much as the national news is heavily saturated with right-wing content and views. News channels that you wouldn't normally watch as a kid become part of your daily routine as an adult. MSNBC is, after all, supposed to be the "liberal" alternative to FOX. That's how its billed, and lots of liberals gravitate toward it for that very reason. But the longer they watch it, the more they're exposed to the right-wing hysterics that populate every major news channel.

        • GrouchyGrouse [he/him]
          ·
          1 year ago

          It sucks but it's true in my own tiny world. My folks are pretty well meaning, they're pro trans rights and gay rights and they're an interracial couple so racism does not fly under their radar.

          But then they tell me shit like "I believe Joe is a good person at heart."

          And I kinda believe that with how he accepts Hunter despite the problems. He loves his son. That's actually really cool. Lots of addicts get disowned.

          But you can't be a good person that supports Rhodesia, you can't be a good person that locks up Mandela, you can't support fucking apartheid and go to sleep every night like it's not a giant moral failure on your part.