CHICAGO—Members of the Alliance for Retired Americans (ARA) gathered in Chicago this week to share the results of a new survey of likely voters ages 65 and up in six key swing states showing Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump in an extremely close race to win the pivotal senior vote in the most contested battleground states.
Harris holds 47% of the total senior vote in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, while Trump is supported by 49%.
Four years ago, national exit polls found that voters over the age of 65 voted for Trump over Biden by 5%. In each of these states, voters in that demographic comprise at least 23% of the electorate.
When asked which party would be best at handling key issues, the poll found that Democrats held a slim 2% advantage on Social Security and Medicare—issues Democrats have long led on. However, Republicans held an advantage over Democrats on the issues of inflation, at 9%, and immigration, at 18%.
“Harris’ strong showing in the survey with a group that went for Trump four years ago is encouraging,” said Richard Fiesta, an expert on retirement security issues and treasurer of Retired Americans PAC. “However, candidates who want to win must engage older voters directly on the issues that matter most to them now.
“There are stark differences between the two parties on the future of Social Security, Medicare, and prescription drugs; it’s incumbent [for candidates] to communicate that they will strengthen and protect these programs, not privatize them,” Fiesta continued.
The poll found that the issues of Medicare and drug prices are primary concerns for this voting bloc. It also found that 70% of seniors were familiar with the MAGA Project 2025. Most have a deeply negative impression of the plans to privatize Medicare, slash the Medicare budget, and eliminate the price cap on out-of-pocket prescription drug costs.
At the meeting in Chicago, long-time ARA member and well-known organizer Bea Lumpkin started the event by telling the crowd, “Just a few days ago, I came from an inter-generational conference of young and senior activists, and we are both critically important constituencies in this election if we want to win victories for working people. We must all be united in this struggle.”
Fred Redmond, the Executive Vice President of the ARA and the National Secretary-Treasurer of the AFL-CIO started his comments at the gathering by offering appreciation to Bea Lumpkin’s long history of working-class activism and then gave special recognition to her late husband, Frank Lumpkin, a steelworker and union organizer who helped initiate the famous Wisconsin steel strike and spent 17 years fighting to have pension payments “stolen by the bosses” returned to the workers that earned them.
Redmond then said, “We all know that elections have serious consequences for working and retired Americans, but it is our job to make sure that the rest of America knows it, too. The labor movement is going to move heaven and Earth if we have to, to keep the House and flip the Senate.
“The retirement that you paid into, Social Security, and Medicare are not entitlement programs; they are promises owed to you for the many years you went to work every day. Now it is time for you to share the wealth you helped create,” Redmond continued.
He later told People’s World that the AFL-CIO is “assembling the largest labor ground game in the history of the American labor movement to ensure that these promises to working people are kept.”
The Alliance for Retired Americans was founded by the AFL-CIO in 2001 and now has 1,500 local chapters, 39 state chapters, and is 4.4 million members strong. The organization’s members are former teachers, industrial workers, healthcare workers, state and federal government workers, construction workers, and community leaders fighting for a secure retirement for every American.
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