Friday, May 11, 2007

Age Cohorts and Attitudes about the Iraq War

Andrew Sullivan points to a recent Gallup Poll showing that older Americans are more likely to oppose the war than younger Americans.

Why?

Gallup makes no definitive claims but states:

"A number of hypotheses could be advanced to explain this age effect, some based on the life experiences of specific age cohorts. Americans who are now in their 50s and early 60s were most likely to have been affected by the Vietnam War, and those who are now in their 70s and 80s were most likely to have been affected by World War II and the Korean War."

Generational experiences matter.