A major election voter enters a Tampa, Florida, polling place on Aug. 23, 2022.
Octavio Jones | Getty Pictures
Most ladies ages 50 and up plan to vote on this November’s midterm elections, however half of them haven’t determined which candidates they may vote for, a brand new AARP ballot finds.
One key concern they do agree on is defending Social Safety, the nationwide survey of 800 feminine voters ages 50 and up discovered.
Girls voters principally agree they need profit cuts prevented. Three-quarters of respondents say such a transfer would personally assist them.
The nationwide survey was carried out by cellphone and on-line between Sept. 6 and 13.
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“You hardly ever see that sort of private connection between a political debate and a problem,” Democratic pollster Celinda Lake, founder and president of Lake Analysis Companions, mentioned throughout a Tuesday webcast hosted by AARP.
Whereas 64% of girls ages 50 to 64 indicated defending Social Safety would assist them so much, 84% of girls over 65 mentioned the identical.
“You simply do not see numbers like that,” Lake mentioned.
Older girls are a strong voting demographic
Girls ages 50 and up symbolize a strong cohort of about 63 million voters, based on AARP.
They have an inclination to have a excessive election turnout — representing, for instance, 30% of votes solid in 2020 whereas accounting for simply 25% of the voting age inhabitants, famous Nancy LeaMond, chief advocacy and engagement officer at AARP.
Social Safety has grow to be a key focal point for some political leaders in an try and get an higher hand forward of the November contests.
President Joe Biden slammed Republican plans for this system at a White Home occasion final week, whereas Republicans have been fast to reject criticism that they are out to kill this system. Sens. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., have referred to as for revisiting Social Safety and Medicare each 5 years and yearly, respectively.
Democrats, alternatively, have broadly referred to as for preserving this system’s present advantages, and even implementing some generous increases.
Lake mentioned she believes Democrats have not been loud sufficient with their messaging on the program.
“I hope you may see plenty of Democrats flip to this concern within the remaining 5 weeks of the marketing campaign,” Lake mentioned.
Girls ages 50 to 64, particularly, are “utterly freaked” that Social Safety might not be sufficiently there after they retire, based on Lake.
“It is an enormous distinction,” she mentioned. “It is an enormous concern.”
Most ladies plan to gather Social Safety
Social Safety stays a high anticipated supply of revenue in retirement for ladies employees, based on a recent report from the Worker Profit Analysis Institute. That analysis discovered 9 in 10 married and divorced girls and eight in 10 single, never-married feminine employees who plan to retire anticipate to gather Social Safety checks.
However wealth has been declining for each ladies and men as they method retirement, based on the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. As Social Safety’s full retirement age strikes increased — to age 67 for these born in 1960 or later — claimants might even see decreased advantages. Furthermore, many have fewer retirement belongings as a result of Nice Recession.
The AARP’s newest survey of girls 50 and up follows research from earlier this year that discovered this cohort was laser-focused on inflation and kitchen desk economics.
These issues are nonetheless distinguished in these voters’ minds, with half indicating the financial system is just not working for them.
Furthermore, 66% of girls ages 50 and up now say they’re reducing non-essential purchases, 41% say they’ve reduce on necessities and 40% are saving much less as the price of dwelling has gone up.
The actions that might assist them probably the most, the survey discovered, could be decreasing the price of meals, fuel or well being care, in addition to expanding Medicare to cowl dental and imaginative and prescient.
Views diverge when issues get political
Because the election approaches, this cohort can also be extra centered on political points.
For Republican girls ages 50 and up, high points embrace inflation and rising costs, crime, immigration and election safety.
For feminine Democrats, high points embrace voting rights and threats to democracy, adopted by gun violence and abortion.
Unbiased girls voters ages 50 and up cited division within the nation, voting rights, threats to democracy, inflation and rising costs, in that order.
