people often have a very mistaken sense of which states have a high proportion of seniors. I made a post today on teh long open thread on this, but it is buried there, so i thought I would repost what I put there in the extended text box below.
Besides what I noted in my original post, please note that for states with relatively easy access to Canada, either bordering or almost bordering, ones with a relatively high % of over 65:
PA 15.6
ND 14.7
SD 14.3
ME 14.1
MA 13.5
We should be targetting on senior citizens in far more than the normal targets of FL and AZ
according to 2000 census, all states % of population 65 & over that is at least 10%
AZ 13.0
AR 14.0
CA 10.6
CT 13. 8
DE 13. 0
FL 17.6
HA 13.3
ID 11.3
IL 12.1
IN 12.4
IA 14.9
KY 12.5
LA 11.6
ME 14.4
MD 11.3
MA 13.5
MI 12.3
MN 12.1
MS 12.1
MO 13.5
MT 13.3
NE 13.6
NV 11.0
NH 12.0
NJ 13.2
NM 11.7
NY 12.9
NC 12.0
ND 14.7
OH 13.3
OK 13.2
OR 12.8
PA 15.6
RI 13.5
SC 12.1
SD 14.3
TN 12.4
VT 12.7
VA 11.2
WA 11.2
WV 15.3
WI 13.1
WY 11.7
US 12.4
in rank order, top 10
FL 17.6
PA 15.6
WV 15.3
IA 14.9
ND 14.7
ME 14.4
SD 14.3
AR 14.0
CT 13.8
NE 13.6
People have a very mistaken idea about age distribution of population. Yes, it is true about FL, but as you can see, AZ does not appear in top 10. You will notice the number of snowbelt states with seniors, in some cases because the young people have left (Dakotas), in others because many seniors cannot afford to move elsewhere, as the deindustialization has lessened the values of the homes (WV, PA).
Not all seniors will vote the same way, to be sure. In some parts of the country many will be culturally conservative, especially on issues like gay marriage. On the other, many of the seniors in the Northern states have a strong history of supporting shared sacrifice. If nothing else, note the number of swing states where privatization of Social Security could potnetially kill Bush -- PA, IA, WV, FL
just some demographic thoughts for a Tuesday morning