Election 2022 (Poll added)

[DJC]

I believe the opposite is true.  In general the elderly are conservative, rusted on Coalition supporters.  Think of the last election when Labor proposed stopping the franking credits refunds which affected about 3 per cent of the elderly .  Panic set in amongst pensioners not affected in any way but it ensured they turned against Labor.

I recall Gillard, when prime minister,  saying something along the lines " why do anything for them, they won't vote for us."

I wrote an essay about voting patterns almost 50 years ago.  At that time, 80% of people who identified as blue collar voted Labor and 80% of people who identified as white collar voted Liberal.

A hell of a lot has changed since then; blue collar and white collar are largely redundant categories, conspiracy theories are rife, faith/trust in politicians is at an all time low, people are fearful and genuinely angry at the failure to act on climate change, there’s a proliferation of political parties, rich fat blokes pour millions into campaigns intended to make them richer, social media is an electioneering tool, younger folk are more informed and are concerned about their future, older folk are well informed and are concerned about their children’s and grandchildren’s future, we’re in the middle of a pandemic, half the country is flooded - the other half is in drought, Russia has invaded Ukraine, North Korea is firing missiles, the Chinese Communist Party is flexing its muscles, self-funded retirees are ignored by policy makers, young folk can’t afford to buy a house, etc, etc.

Voters are less predictable than they’ve ever been.