One month into Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, a poll by The Economist showed 56% of Americans aged 18-29 sympathized with the Ukrainian cause, compared to 92% among the 65+ group.

We found this surprising: Younger people are more Democratic than older people, and Democrats are more Russophobic than Republicans these days, thus one would expect younger people to favor Russia less, not more than older people.

The Economist argued that two factors -- personal experience, and interest in politics -- impact opinions, and on both counts it made younger people more likely to be pro-Russia than older people.

Regarding personal experience, 29-yr-olds hadn’t lived through Soviet expansion and the Cold War thus were more likely to trust Russia than older folks. 

We agree personal experience matters. The results of our poll on loans to nuclear power shows young people far more in favor, and one can plausibly attribute that to the fact they hadn't lived through Three-Mile Island and Chernobyl.

Regarding interest in politics, The Economist's data showed those less  interested in politics to be more pro-Russia, and that younger people are less interested in politics. 

If one accepts The Economist's data that younger people are less intersted in politics than older people, and we see no reason not to, our poll on Havana Sydrome showing younger people more trusting of Russia than older people, supports the view that those less intersted in politics tend to be more pro-Russia. 

But a question remains, why are those less interesed in politics more trusting of Russia?

One theory would be that those less engaged are less knowledgeable on the facts of Russia’s nefarious history.

A differeing theory would be those less engaged are less subject to an exaggerated anti-Russian narrative pushed by liberal media.

In this case, your preferred theory likely depends on your politics, not your age.