(S)tarting in the 1980s, attitudes of the baby boomers began changing. Polls found them becoming more family oriented and, over time, more conservative. If this transformation continues, leading more of them to embrace the GOP, it could affect the 2012 election.

◼ As the boomers turn - Karlyn Bowman and Andrew Rugg/LA Times

...The passions of youth had been tempered by the practical reality of marriages, children and mortgages. Nearly 7 in 10 in the Rolling Stone poll said they were more family oriented than they thought they would be. When asked about changes from their parents' generation, 59% said more-permissive attitudes about sex were a change for the worse (31% thought it was for the better), 67% said more single parenthood was a change for the worse, and 72% said they thought less religious training for children was a change for the worse.

Ideological beliefs moved too. In the 1986 Time poll, 64% of the baby boomers polled said they had become more conservative since the 1960s. When asked about their ideological identification, 31% said they had been liberal in the 1960s and '70s, but only 21% described themselves that way in 1986. The number identifying as conservative rose from 28% to 41%.

The ideological reorientation of early boomers that began in the 1980s has continued. Two of the country's best long-running surveys show how those born between 1943 and 1958, the so-called near-olds at the front of the baby boom, have changed. In the 1972 American National Election Study survey, 30% of today's near-olds called themselves liberals. In 2008, 12% did. The proportion calling themselves conservative rose from 21% to 46%. In 1972, 51% of eligible voters in the early baby boom cohort called themselves Democrats and 29% Republicans. In 2008, 45% said they were Democrats and 48% said they were Republicans....

◼ A surprising Boomers' poll. Rolling Stone no more - Backyard Conservative