how would you describe the political bent to these generations?

[freepcrusher]

Obviously, you're going to find a lot of conservatives and liberals in both parties and its difficult to generalize, but I'm wondering what you think:

GI (1901-1924): It seems that this generation produced an interesting type of liberalism. My great uncle has a lot of republican demographics (old, white, middle class married with four grown children) but he has been a democrat his entire life because he was raised to believe that FDR rescued America. This generation seemed to produce a lot of idealists such as McGovern, Humphrey etc. There were of course many conservatives in this generation too such as Senators Helms and Laxalt. A lot of the mentors of the 60s counterculture was of this generation like Dr Spock, Bob Drinan, Tim Leary etc.

Silent (1925-1942): It seems that this generation as a whole leaned well to the right of the GIs. Many of them were probably too old to have remembered the New Deal era. Much of them grew up in the post World War II boom era and many married young, maybe went into Korea and started having kids early and often and moving out into the new suburbs. Many of them saw the economic growth of the postwar era and wanted the government's hand off. Much of this generation probably had the stereotypical "boy/girl next door" image. This generation was probably too busy raising children to be engaging in the idealism of the 1960s. They were too young to have fought WWII but too old (except at the tail end of the generation) to go to Vietnam

Boomer (1943-1960): This is essentially a swing constituency but looks to be a bifurcated one as it seems like you have very partisan voters on both sides (sort of like Colorado). One can see these battles being played out in the 1980s with the young idealogues in both parties. On the right you had Newt Gingrich, Vin Weber, Duncan Hunter etc and on the right you had Ed Markey, Tom Downey, Lane Evans etc. This generation seemed to be the most self segregating by ideology and lifestyle which is why you have areas like the Atlanta and Houston suburbs on one hand and the Silicon Valley and Portland suburbs on the other. I would also say that there is a difference between the early and late boomers. Much of the early boomers were children of the GI Generation and were more likely to get involved in activism while the younger boomers were more numerous in size, seemed more whitebred and were children of the Silent Generation.

Generation X (1961-1981): I found this generation to be very ALT in its political outlook. It seems that most of the members of congress in this generation are republican, but it may change as the years go by. A lot of the republicans are sort of the "South Park Republican" brand and are cynical of just about everything government related. Much of the people who identify as democrat I've met from this generation is someone who is probably still single or only recently married, often a pot smoker (think someone like Kumar or Brian Griffin) and likes to talk about how great the 90s were.

Generation Y (1982-early 2000s): This generation which I am a part of seems to be an acceleration of trends already occuring in Generation X. This generation has a huge nonwhite population and many of the whites are secular and I would say this generation probably has the most liberal views on sex and drug related issues. I would describe the outlook of this generation politically as "postmodern".

[tallguy23]

G.I: Strongly in favor of big government. They saw the New Deal happen and helped bring about the rise of America as a superpower. Sacrifice for the greater good is a big part of who they were.
Defining figure: FDR

Silent: A swing group. More conservative than the G.I. generation but they had it good overall. They were able to experience the pos-WWII economy and were too young to fight during the war. I'd say they're pretty Republican right now but still love they're Medicare and Social Security.
Defining figure: Eisenhower I guess

Boomers: Incredibly polarized. Economically conservative but socially moderate, although you have extremes on both sides. Basically believe that it's important to win at any cost instead of doing the right thing. Overall, a very spoiled generation (you can tell I'm not a fan.)
Defining figure: JFK

Gen X: A bit cynical and very independent. Economically conservative but socially moderate/liberal. Don't view government as a good thing in general (be it economics or social issues). Much more open to culturally diversity and gay rights.
Defining figure: Reagan

Millenials: Optimistic and fairly pro-government group. Very liberal on social issues such as gay marriage and drug legalization. Don't like mixing religion and politics. VERY open and used to a multicultural America. Conservatives in this group tend to be libertarians, hence the support for Ron Paul.
Defining figure: As of now, Obama