New Polls Show that Older Voters are Abandoning Trump as He Pushes To Reopen the Economy Prematurely
In the recent elections, Democrats have fared well with more progressive, younger voters while Republicans have done better with older voters, generally because of their more conservative views on social issues such as gay marriage and women's rights. And among voters 65 and older, Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton by 13 points, 55% to 42%, in 2016. That support propelled Trump to narrow victories in Florida and Arizona, two states with large populations of retired Americans.
However, recent polling seems to suggest that Joe Biden is faring much better with that age cohort, both nationally and in several key states.
FiveThirtyEight.com: "But now Biden narrowly leads Trump 48 percent to 47 percent, based on an average of 48 national polls that included that age group [65 and older]. If those figures hold until November, they would represent a seismic shift in the voting behavior of America’s oldest voters." ...
... "We don’t have as much state-level polling to work with, but there’s evidence that Biden is also doing better with older voters in some key swing states. Take two recent surveys from Florida, a state with one of the oldest populations in the country. A Fox News poll from mid-April found Biden with a slim 3-point lead over Trump and running even among voters 45 and older, while a Quinnipiac University survey from the same period found Biden up 4 points overall in Florida and leading Trump 52 percent to 42 percent among voters 65 and older."
These surveys don't include a question about why older voters are abandoning the President, but one might surmise that it has something to do with Trump's push to reopen the economy earlier than many health professionals think is prudent, putting older Americans at risk.
Matthew Yglesias of Vox Media on Twitter: "Some evidence here that “let grandma die” is not a very persuasive message to America’s older voters."
By Don Lam & Curated Content
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