Health Populi

Monday, August 11, 2008

The insecurity of the swing voter: a AARP poll


The 'average' swing voter is white, over 50, has income of $60K or less, female, and absolutely certain to vote in November's election.

She is also very worried about the economy, financial security, and health care.

The AARP released the Key Findings from AARP Swing Voter Battleground Poll on swing voters this week. Who's a swing voter? Someone who is likely to vote in November who is undecided or not strongly committed to any candidate.

AARP polled swing voters in six states: Florida, Iowa, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Together, these states represent a major piece of the electoral pie.

Swing voters' key concerns for the long-term are:

  • 84% are concerned about personal financial security in retirement
  • 56% worried about Social Security being available in retirement
  • 85% believe that Social Security is the "cornerstone of the social compact in this country"
  • 94% feel that retiring with financial and health security is essential to the American Dream.

To solve the problems of financial and health security, swing voters view bipartisanship as a crucial approach. 93% believe that both Social Security and health care can be improved by both parties working together, and agree that these problems are too great for any one candidate or party to fix on their own.

Health Populi's Hot Points: Swing voters want to know much more about where Senator McCain and Senator Obama stand on the kitchen table issues of Social Security, financial markets, and health care. Clearly, their concerns are rooted in very palpable worries of insecurity in these days of imploding financial markets; receding 401(k) and pension returns; mortgages and home valuations; the growing consumer credit crunch; and health insurance, under-insurance, and un-insurance. Up to now, the candidates haven't gotten into the level of detail that will help the swing voters choose their candidate.

posted by Jane Sarasohn-Kahn at 2:00 PM

1 Comments:

  • It's true that in this era of sound-bite sized policy discussions, concrete details on health care plans, social security and other issues are difficult to come by. There are a number of voter education initiatives, however, which make publicly available candidates' responses to questions on specific topics. One such example is Your Candidates- Your Health; both McCain and Obama have responded to this 19-part questionnaire on health and medical research.The candidates address not only how we can control spiraling health care costs, but also how we can most effectively use the money allocated to medical research in order to minimize the economic burden of patient care in the long run. Hopefully, in the coming weeks, voters can press the candidates to expand on their plans.

    By Anonymous SEM, At September 3, 2008 12:14 PM  

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