Progressives Cannot Win without Older Voters
As we all know, elections are decided by those who actually show up (or send in their mail in ballots) on Election Day. This is one of the essential laws of democratic politics. If you have had any experience at all with political campaigns you that older (age 50 and over voters) show up. Let’s look at some facts:
· According to the Pew Foundation, in the 2016 presidential election fully 56 percent of the electorate was age 50 and over (29% ages 50 to 64 and 27% age 65 and over). Sadly, in 2016 just 13% of electorate was made up of these under age 30.
· Sad to say, put some progressives are under the impression that older voters are just simply going to vote Republican. The good news here is that this point of view is mistaken. Older voters are a crucial swing voting bloc. The 2018 midterm elections provide a great example of this. As Politico points out in the article “How Democrats Won Over Older Voters — And Flipped the House”: “Exit polls from 2016 suggest that in the 2016 House vote, Republicans defeated Democrats 54 percent to 44 percent among voters age 50–64, and by 53 percent to 45 percent among voters 65 and older. But this year, older voters were split almost evenly between the parties. Republicans carried voters in the 50–64 bracket by just 1 point, 50 percent to 49 percent — well within the margin of error for the exit poll, which was conducted for the National Election Pool by Edison Research. The results for voters 65 and older was nearly identical: 50 percent for Republicans and 48 percent for Democrats. Nationally, Democrats won in 2018 because when it came to “the deciders” — those Americans age 50 and up — they fought Republicans to a draw.”
So, hopefully by now, I have convinced you that you need make older voters a key part of winning coalition. The question you may be asking yourself is: How do I reach out to older voters? You may be thinking that all you need is to talk about Medicare and Social Security. This is a good first step — but it doesn’t go nearly far enough.
Older voters of course care about Social Security and Medicare. However, they also care about other issues as well. For example, the economy is almost always at the top of list of the issues that older voters care about. You need to learn about what the older voters in your race care about.
Just as you would not assume that all members of a certain demographic group feel the same way you shouldn’t assume that older voters are not monolithic. For example, voters 50 to 64 and those 65 and over often have different views on issues such as health care (mainly because the 65 plus are on Medicare).
In reaching out to older voters, you may want to consider a few things:
Don’t assume that older voters are not on social media. A study by Pew found that 65% of those ages 50 to 64 and 41% of those 65 and over are on Facebook. Older voters are on Facebook — you just have to find them. You need to target differently!
Medicare for All presents a special challenge for progressives in reaching out to older voters. Those on the other side of the aisle will argue that Medicare for All means that those currently on Medicare will be losing their benefits. Somewhere out there is a GOP consultant making an ad showing a deserving senior citizen having his or her Medicare card being taken away by an ungrateful millennial. Your job as a progressive activist is to make sure that older voters know that Medicare for All means that Medicare will cover their dental, vision and long-term care!
Most political consultants contend that direct mail is one of the best ways of reaching older voters as they are more likely to read mail.
If you want to have an event with those 65 plus, don’t schedule it for the evening. May senior citizens don’t like to drive at night. On the other side if you are looking to reach those under 65 don’t have it during the day as they are more likely to be working than their older counterparts.
As a general rule, do not refer to older voters as “elderly” this is often considered offensive. Be careful about using the phrase “senior citizens”. This term often makes the 50 to 65 group uncomfortable.
Martin Burns
martin.burns923@gmail.com
Martin Burns resides in Washington DC with his wife Mary Liz. He has worked extensively with older voters and as an advocate, journalist and congressional staffer. Any and all opinions in this article are exclusively his own.
