After a 36-year run, 2016 is likely to be the last election dominated by Baby Boomers and earlier generations as their fading populations are taken over by Millennials and Generation Xers, according to a new analysis of voting trends.
The Pew Research Center found that the older and younger voters nearly matched in the 2012 election, and now the younger voter are set to outpace the older groups in 2016 126 million to 98 million.
Said Pew:
In 2012, Boomers and previous generations accounted for 56% of those who said they voted. And these generations dominated earlier elections to an even greater degree.
But the ranks of Millennial and Generation X eligible voters have been growing, thanks to the aging-in of Millennials and naturalizations among foreign-born adults. These generations matched Boomers and previous generations as a share of eligible voters in 2012 and are now estimated to outnumber them. As of July, an estimated 126 million Millennial and Gen X adults were eligible to vote (56% of eligible voters), compared with only 98 million Boomers and other adults from prior generations, or 44% of the voting-eligible population.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner's "Washington Secrets" columnist, can be contacted at pbedard@washingtonexaminer.com