between the U.S. and Europe when it comes to voting behavior and age is that in Europe, retirees almost always vote more conservative than the rest of the electorate, whereas in the U.S., that is at the very least less so, and depending on the part of the country and the issues that dominate the elections, the elderly may well prefer Democrats over Rethugs by significant margins. The most important reason for this difference is the fact that Democrats guarantee the continuation of social service programs whereas Repubs perennially vow to axe them. The debate over social services has a fundamentally different dynamics in Europe, and one part of that is that conservative parties generally present themselves as guarantors of the retirement benefits and healthcare of the oldsters. A secondary issue is of course the experience of the Greatest Generation in the U.S. - especially those who have seen both WWII and the Great Depression before it. So many of these folks will always have an FDR Democrat somewhere in them.

If you can't convince them, confuse them. (Harry S. Truman)