Study Finds Elderly Tend to Oppose School Bonds

The notion that older voters tend to oppose school bond proposals is supported by a study that also says those voters do not necessarily oppose other tax issues.

“Retirees often vote against education issues because they no longer have school-age children, they live on fixed incomes and fear new taxes, or they are migrants with no attachments to their new communities,” said James Button, a political science professor at the University of Florida.

Button studied precinct results in 11 elections from 1987 to 1989 in six counties. Except in Charlotte County, voters over 55 strongly opposed school bond issues while younger voters supported them just as strongly, he said.

On other tax issues, the elderly vote depended on the nature of the proposal, the size of the tax increase and the publicity it generated, he said.

Large capital improvement projects, such as highway work, tended to receive approval, he said.

Studies of national elections show that older people tend to vote in significantly higher concentrations than younger people, but few studies have examined their voting record in local elections, he said.

“We found that the elderly not only out-register all younger age groups, but that in local elections they really out-vote them as well,” he said.

People 65 and older represent 26% of the population in the six counties but 41% of registered voters, Button found.

In the school bond elections studied, 44% of the people who voted were 65 or older. In elections on other tax issues, 49% were senior citizens, he said.

The study found that older people who lived in retirement communities that excluded young people were somewhat more likely to vote against school bonds and local tax issues.