Trump tries to claw back senior support after gains by Biden and Harris
By
Naomi Lim
August 16, 2024 5:00 am
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Vice President Kamala Harris appears to have inherited President Joe Biden‘s polling advantage among seniors despite former President Donald Trump‘s appeals to the demographic and past performance.
While much has been made of the enthusiasm for Harris among Generation Z voters, memes and all, seniors have traditionally been a more reliable voting group, and Trump does not seem to be conceding it.
AARP pollster Jeff Liszt described seniors as a demographic battleground, with Trump performing better among voters aged 50 to 64 but voters 65 and older being “more competitive.”
“One of the big questions now is whether or not that dynamic ends up changing with the change of candidates on the Democratic side,” Liszt told the Washington Examiner. “One thing that we do know is that campaigns need to be paying attention to the issues that matter to older voters because in critical swing states, including Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, older voters 50-plus were a majority of the electorate in 2020 and they’re still telling us that they are more motivated to vote than younger voters.”
To that end, Biden and Harris announced this week that Medicare is expected to save $6 billion through the first round of price negotiations regarding 10 widely used drugs, saving seniors $1.5 billion on out-of-pocket drug costs starting in 2026. The day before Trump delivered what was supposed to be an economic address, despite downplaying the importance of the economy as a voter issue, he spoke before a sign that read, “No Tax on Social Security.”
“When you ask older voters what matters to them, in all of these swing states, it’s economic issues,” Liszt said. “You’ve got some issues that excite the party bases in each party. Republicans are more interested in immigration as an issue. Democrats, especially Democrats over 50, tend to be more interested in threats to democracy. Democrats are also caring a lot about women’s reproductive rights, but overall, economic issues are the top issues.”
For Liszt, that includes Social Security and inflation, considering more than 60% of Michigan voters aged 50 and older told AARP pollsters last week that the entitlement program is or will be a major source of income for them and 90% said they are or will be depending on it to a degree. In that survey, those respondents also preferred Trump by 2 percentage points, 49% to 47%.
Simultaneously, last week’s New York Times-Siena College poll found Harris ahead with voters aged 65 and older in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, 52% to 41%, when third parties and independents were taken into account.
“In our last poll on Aug. 4, we had Harris plus 3 [points] with Gen Z and plus 11 with ‘boomers,'” Marist Institute for Public Opinion Director Lee M. Miringoff told the Washington Examiner, with the baby boomer generation including those aged 60. “The first group is low compared to 2020, but the older group is very strong for her, and, of course, it’s a much larger group to have in your corner.”
“The Social Security play is an issue that is easy to understand for seniors because it means more money in their pockets from one check to the next,” Suffolk University Political Research Center Director David Paleologos added to the Washington Examiner. “Trump won seniors in 2020, according to the exit polls, 52% to 47%, but he is losing them today. This is a poll-driven policy attempt to grab back that important voting bloc.”
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https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/campaigns/presidential/3122403/trump-tries-claw-back-senior-support-after-gains-by-biden-harris/
