While this race has a steep age gradient, with voters under 45 voting 60-38 Jones while those 65+ voted 40-59 Moore, I noticed something in the CNN exit poll:
Those aged 30-39 voted 66-32 Jones
Those aged 25-29 voted 62-36 Jones
Those under 25 voted 59-40 Jones
Is this reverse gradient because
-voters born after 1990 or so are becoming more conservative?
-those likely to have young daughters at home (in their 30s, as opposed to 18-24) more personally disturbed by the allegations against Moore?, or
-something else?
I know Romney also did relatively well with 18-22 year olds compared to other young voters in 2012. The statistic didn't really hold through when they voted in 2016 at later ages though. It seems the very young voters are quite fickle with their voting patterns.
This doesn't explain "everything" about your post, but perhaps is a part of it.
Very young voters are more influenced by their parents' politics. In an era of high age disparities, that means they are somewhat more Republican than voters a few years older whose politics are less influenced by their parents. Also, turnout among very young voters is extremely low (much worse than young voters generally), and this may disproportionately affect minority and/or liberal very young voters.
