To think it's odd when elderly parents vote for things that adversely affect their children and grandchildren?

[malificent7]

Take Brexit and people who lost their jobs as a result...just why?
And my dad. I tried explaining that the Tories cut the NHS bursary so now i will be 60, 000 in debt when i graduate and he just sai " so what?" and " labour brought in the student loan." Yes dad...and without a student loan i wouldn't be able to retrain at all and wpuld be sruck in a minimum wage, zeri hour vontract job.
It's like people know who they want to vote for and won't listen to others...even though i listen to his concerns on immigration( with his lovely immigrant dp sitting beside him.) Cognative dissonance at its finest!

I remember my Dad literally chortling with glee and rubbing his hands together when the benefits cap was introduced and universal credit was on its way to being implemented. I said "you do realise that both of these directly affect me and the kids don't you?" - single parent after very abusive relationship. He just looked confused and moved the conversation on but later I saw him post more delight on social media.

Because they think it won't affect them. That they'll be OK somehow. Or because they think they can magically make the world go back to how it was when they were kids.

Perhaps they don't want to see the value of their investments/pension eroded, or the price of their house going down. Perhaps they believe that a Conservative Government is best for the country - like I do.

When people compare future hardship with the War I believe this shows how unthinking they are. We didn’t ask for the War but our fighting spirit helped to engender a strong community spirit. However, we have asked for a Brexit and it is this country’s fault if we suffer. It is ridiculous and insulting to compare the two.

I am not happy about the opinion that older people should not be allowed to vote, as it doesn't affect them -this is a totally simplistic non democratic way of thinking. I do think that the word "immigrant" needs to be explained though. I have heard from older people (early 70s) ,that Brexit would mean that all those "foreigners" would have to go back to where they came from. The implication being "non white" people. I think we gain so much more from being in the EU,freedom of movement for my kids and their kids is very important. What needs to be changed is the way we ALL contribute to our community and a cash injection to get our beloved NHS back on an even keel. I am anxious for the outcome on Thursday .

@MilkTrayLimeBarrel has it. Breathtaking selfishness regarding the value of their assets.

I've given up trying to understand voter behaviour since last week, when I read that three-quarters of voters don't know who their MP is and an extraordinary percentage can't remember how they voted last time. It's apparent that many people's voting decisions are based on some ridiculous personal algorithm comparable only to the process by which most of us choose our Grand National horse. Trying to parse this with reference to logic and facts is a fool's game, OP.

I think the whole issue of health care students now having to take out a loan to fund their fees and living costs is blown out of proportion as surely all students who wish to enter higher education to better themselves and their prospects should be treated with parity? I appreciate that those going into the NHS will not necessarily be recompensed as well as those in some private sectors, but it does offer job security which is no guarantee for many these days. Taking away the headline figures if we look at a graduate earning £28k today, they are paying £17 a month back to the treasury. The more graduates earn the more they pay back so in the end it's the high earners who contribute more, which is how it should work (in my opinion). I know many nurses (and other healthcare professionals) won't necessarily earn above the threshold for many years, and so will not be paying one penny back, again how it should be. Being thousands of pounds in debt is a false rhetoric, as in the end, you only pay back based on how well you are doing financially. So for me, this is by no means a key election issue, as I'm sure it isn't for many.

I mean I know why my mother does it, she can't stand us and we've been NC for years.

Even before I ever went NC... this is a bit outing but I was the president of the LGBT soc at my university, and one term in an effort to find something new to do we had a "massage and beauty night" where one of the committee showed people how to do hand massages and how to like make face packs out of cucumber and oatmeal and stuff. It was picked up by a newspaper, trying to make out that we were having some sort of sordid gay massage orgy type thing - the story died after the uni chaplaincy and student association, who had been contacted for comment, told them to fuck off confirmed that we were a serious bunch of people who did important work in campaigning and supporting LGBT students - but I told my parents all about it, how they'd wanted to publish our names and photos and so on... and they carried right on buying the same paper. I suspect my mother still buys it to this day. They just... the most charitable interpretation I can put on it is that they weren't familiar with the idea of like political protest through boycotting, or they found it hard to link up the idea of me in my uni town with their paper that they bought on the way to work, IDK.

@speakout sounds like my daily mail reading parents. My father is reasonably well educated yet won't believe that looting and crime were rife during ww2. They voted to leave the EU for their children and grandchildren which is ironic seeing as we were all voting remain.

I am amazed so many working young people are voting labour. Labour's spending plans will entail a huge amount of debt especially when the pound and FTSE plummet. This debt will need to be paid back over a long time by the youth of today.

The 'older' generations n are more pro-Europe than the younger Ines. The referendum in 1976 was won by 'remain'

Now my dad voted leave in the referendum because in the 1976 one he voted to join, 'the common market, not the EU'.

He claims all the negative stuff is from 'liers'.

Other than Brexit he is a lovely caring person.

You have your opinion, your parents have theirs and the two opinions and votes may differ from each other. That's life. Don't waste energy getting upset about it. We all have reasons for our voting decisions that others won't be necessarily agree with.

You are only in control of your own life and opinions. You don't like theirs and want to change them and control them so they vote the same way as you. Just stop it. Why should they?

To think it's odd when elderly parents vote for things that adversely affect their children and grandchildren?

Do you think it equally odd when children or grandchildren vote for things that have an adverse impact on their parents?

Ultimately, voting in a particular way can rarely be positive for everyone, so I would guess that most people vote in accordance with their conscience, rather than setting out to spite someone else. They might be wrong in your opinion - or in mine - but if you disagree, all you can do is attempt to persuade. Or just agree to disagree.

Tory voters generally only think of themselves and their own family. If they had an ounce of empathy for others there’s just no way they could vote Tory. The Tories only look after the wealthy, this is nothing new. If you rely on the NHS or basically just the public sector, don’t vote Tory. My mind absolutely boggles when people who definitely couldn’t afford private healthcare or education vote Tory.

I agree OP. It's selfish. But there tends to be a sense of superiority where young people know nothing . But I'd like if we could vote from 16, to be honest. The more young we have making decisions for our future, the better.

And no one come at me and say 16 year olds aren't mature enough to vote. In all sections of society, there's people who vote for something they don't understand. I've met plenty of very switched on young teens.

Older people voting Tory is not new! But it’s not very self interested if you take into account that the most extensive users of the NHS are the elderly. I assume older voters just don’t think they will need it.

The war generation voted generously and for their children’s future. The war babies have not done that. They just romanticize the war, empire etc. Forget how lousy it was if you did not have money.

Was the grant a tory invention then and why can't i get it now?

Because more people go to university. Back when it was 'free' around 6% of people when to uni now 50% of school leavers go. I'm suspicious of any party that says they will remove tuition fees - i can't see how it will be funded without us reverting back to an 'elite 'HE system.

The current conservative manifesto has a lot of public spending commitments. Labour etc are lying by trying to pretend it will be a continuation of austerity. I think there will be more jobs, money for health and social care and prosperity for everyone if the Conservatives get a majority.

Before he became ill my dad stopped voting for this reason. He firmly believed there should be an upper age limit as well as a lower one to stop the ‘I’m alright Jack, it’s all about my pension’ lot ruining life for those younger.

I think it's odd that people choose to vote for anti-semites. HTH OP.

There is no right or wrong just differences of opinion. This.

Before he became ill my dad stopped voting for this reason. He firmly believed there should be an upper age limit as well as a lower one to stop the ‘I’m alright Jack, it’s all about my pension’ lot ruining life for those younger.

The pension isn’t even a consideration now. The triple lock basically insulates older people from the consequences of their vote. They can vote safe in the knowledge that they are protected from rising prices, whereas younger people have that to worry about that on top of potentially losing their jobs. Obviously the triple lock is never going to be removed as it serves a recognised social need, but it does have some unintended consequences.

I think there was some YouGov research a while ago that said most Leave voting pensioners would still vote Brexit even if it cost their own children their jobs. I'll try to find it.

This is certainly true of my Leave voting mum, my job is under threat from Brexit, my (very elderly) mum doesn't care and would vote the same again and she's coming for Christmas.