Resentment of Elderly on Rise, Poll Finds

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Younger people often see retirees as selfish and greedy, feelings that may grow into a national backlash of resentment, a study suggests.

“Anywhere from a third to more than half of the younger people in our survey agreed to various statements suggesting that the elderly are a selfish voting bloc, often a divisive influence in their communities and benefit unfairly from government social programs,” said Walter Rosenbaum, a University of Florida political science professor.

Working with the school’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research, Rosenbaum and political scientist James Button surveyed 535 Florida residents, young and old. The study had an error rate of plus or minus 4%.

The greater proportion of elderly in a community, the more negatively they were perceived, the researchers said.

“Because Florida is on the leading edge of the graying of America, this study raises new concerns about a growing gulf between young and old and the possibility of a national ‘backlash’ against the aging,” Rosenbaum said.

One reason for the resentment is the increasingly larger share of federal entitlements, such as Social Security and Medicare, going to the elderly at a time when such money has declined for younger people who face higher poverty rates, he said.

“In a generation, the image of the elderly has changed from needy to greedy, an attitude captured in the popular bumper sticker, ‘I’m spending my grandchildren’s inheritance,’ ” he said.

Younger people told researchers they felt alienated from older residents, who frequently live in retirement communities, some of which have their own police and fire departments, Button said.

Forty-two percent of people under 55 and a quarter of the respondents over 55 said any benefits the elderly offer communities often do not compensate for the burdens they place on local governments.

Although most young people in the study perceived the elderly to be against paying for public services that did not benefit them, the young and old were surprisingly alike in their attitudes about higher school taxes, he said.

“This suggests that older people are no more likely than younger people to oppose increased taxes for education,” Button said.