NYT’s Puts Down Young Voters’ Higher Support Of War

The New York Times’ editor of news surveys and election analysis reports its surprise at a March NYT/CBS poll that, “younger people are more supportive of the war and the president than any other age group.”

Forty-eight percent of Americans 18 to 29 years old said the United States did the right thing in taking military action against Iraq, while 45 percent said the United States should have stayed out. That is in sharp contrast to the opinions of those 65 and older, who have lived through many other wars. Twenty eight percent of that age group said the United States did the right thing, while 67 percent said the United States should have stayed out.

This is nothing new, said John Mueller, author of "War, Presidents and Public Opinion," and a professor of political science at Ohio State University. "This is a pattern that is identical to what we saw in Korea and Vietnam, younger people are more likely to support what the president is doing," he said.

The explanations that the NYT’s presents are from cherry-picked quotes by seniors putting down younger voters as ignorant and inexperienced. One senior, 73, says, “They don’t care because there is no draft,” belied by Mueller’s statistics about younger during Vietnam also being more supportive -- despite the impressions created by those highlighted in the media.

If one gets to the end of the NYT’s treatment, a better explanation emerges:

Younger people are also more optimistic. Forty-nine percent of them said the United States was either very likely or somewhat likely to succeed in Iraq, while only 34 percent of older people said the same thing.

Other explanations might have been offered, if the NYT’s was interested, as more concern for their longer future and their children, than are seniors, having to live in a world besieged by fanatics, for example. Or, being less world-weary and withdrawn, more willing to face challenges. Or being more optimistic or positive in general.

Perhaps a future poll will delve further. Or, perhaps not, not wanting to find answers contrary to the meme.

Recall that during the 2004 campaign, none of the pollsters bothered to ask Vietnam veterans what they thought of John Kerry.