30 May 2007

Denver's Old Voters

Denver Politics notes that Denver municipal voters are pretty old (bracketed material inserted, ellipsis in original):

Of the nearly 3,500 votes processed last week, the average year of birth was 1947, or roughly 50 years old. This average was especially high in Denver's poorer neighbor[hood]s, reaching closer to 56 years old.

In fact, citywide nearly 18% of the voters were over the age of 80... and 60 of 'em were born before America's entry into WWI.


In West Wash Park, where I live, the average age of a voter who cast a vote is a youthful 44 years old, which is quite close to the median age of persons eligible to vote in Denver.

Denver's median age is about 35 years old. Of course, those under age 18 can't vote, so the median voter age should be higher than 35 years old, even if voters of all ages participated equally, which they don't, especially in municipal elections which capture the "core" voters. Young voters are disproportionately represented in the "sometimes" voters who vote in Presidential elections, but not otherwise.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Individuals born in 1947 are 60 years old. I'm one of them and, by the way, a voter as well.

Andrew Oh-Willeke said...

You are, of course, right. That is what I get for quoting Dave Burrell, a historian, on math, when I should have known better.