In the 1992 election, Democratic Party strategist James Carville famously said, “It’s the economy, stupid.” And in 2024, that statement still rings true.
The economy is still the top issue for voters heading into the presidential election, especially senior voters. Jeff Liszt of Impact Research says it’s because many older Americans are on a fixed income or expect to be on one soon.
“That’s one of the reasons why inflation has been so hard for them,” Liszt explained. “And it’s one of the reasons why Social Security is such an important voting issue for them.”
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Mark Huffman is an editor for Retirement Living and he says that’s why both Trump and Harris need to make their policies regarding Medicare and Social Security known.
“In another month or two, Medicare and Social Security will announce the cost of living increase,” Huffman said. “And because inflation has come down, that cost of living increase is not going to be very high. It’s probably going to be well below 3%.”
Huffman added that a smaller cost of living increase could impact how seniors vote. Historically, an economy with high inflation favors the challenger in an election.
“When people feel economic discomfort as they did in 1980 when Jimmy Carter was running against Ronald Reagan, it was very, it wasn’t very good for the party in power,” Huffman said.
Polls reflect that trend. An August Pew Research survey found that younger voters support Harris by a large margin. But older voters lean more toward Trump.
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Meanwhile, a study by Retirement Living found that older Americans are more likely to vote based on issues rather than the candidate or party affiliation. But this year, the top issue regardless of party affiliation is still the cost of living.
Retirement Living also found that 75% of older voters have already made up their mind on who they’ll vote for in November. And candidates can count on seniors to show up.
Huffman says older voters are focused on who can work across the aisle to create meaningful change, and quickly. It’s a priority he says will benefit all voters, not just one age group.
“I think everybody, regardless of their age, they realize that things are not as good as they could be and they’re looking for somebody to offer some hope and, you know, some leadership,” Huffman said. “But there is a lot of polarization and there’s a lot of division and I’m not sure this election is going to resolve it.”