I'm fully aware of the tendency of older people to lean conservative, but I've never really made the connection with we all wait patiently for them to die
I don't mean to sound macabre, but do you think that will mean a considerable democratic swing within the next... 10-20 years if the republicans don't try to reach an earlier audience? I know plenty of young people who are frustratingly conservative, but I also know that those older people make up a very large portion of the republicans votes. I wonder if we'll see a shift in the GOP's message to reflect the need to replace those old votes. It'll be interesting to see if they ride it out, straight into the ground (heh) or if they don't, whether they will try for the new group of old folks or the youth. The former seems much more likely
We're experiencing it. It's slow - people don't drop out of the rolls in waves, they trickle out. That's the big problem the Republican Party is facing right now: they're squarely aimed at a diminishing demographic. That's what the big battles in the party are about right now - excising the Tea Party faction because they're so rabid they're driving away the center.