Just in case you’re sick and tired of reading about how Barack Obama has connected with America’s youth and how Republicans are a bunch of out of touch old fogies, this story is for you.
As a result of the November elections, the average Republican in Congress is younger than the average Democrat.
The Washington Examiner has the chronological calculations:
The average age of Republican House members in the new Congress convening today is 54.9, younger than the Republicans’ average age in the previous Congress, 56.5. But the average age of House Democrats has risen, from 58 to 60.2. That can be explained partly by the high turnover in the 2010 election. Many younger Democrats, first elected in 2006 or 2008, fell by the wayside. The old bulls from 65 percent-plus Democratic districts survived. Meanwhile, many young Republican challengers won.
But the results are historically anomalous. Going back to the Congress elected in 1950, there has never been more than a 2.8-year difference in the average age of House Republicans and House Democrats. The difference in this Congress is 5.3 years, almost double that.
The picture is similar on the Senate side of the Capitol, where the average age of Republicans is 61.4 and the average age of Democrats is 63.1. That’s as wide a margin as in any Senate since the one produced by the election of 1982.
Of course, the average age of the Democrats in the Senate dropped about 15 years with the death of Robert Byrd.
In case it makes the Democrats feel any better, which is always our goal here at IHateTheMedia.com, it should be noted that the average age of Independents in Congress is 68.5.
Of course, that’s still younger than the Democrat leadership – Harry Reid (72), Nancy Pelosi (71), James Clyburn (70) and Steny Hoyer (70).
Source: Washington Examiner
