American at a polling booth
As in 2016, Wisconsin is a key battleground state for the presidential election, and a new poll for AARP Wisconsin indicates Joe Biden currently is favored among voters in the Badger State.
Bipartisan polling firms conducted the survey, which found that, among likely voters, the former vice president leads President Donald Trump 50% to 45%. For likely voters age 50 and up, the findings are similar, at 50% to 46%, and the results are outside the margin of error.
AARP Wisconsin State Director Sam Wilson said polls were done in a handful of states deemed critical, and added that he thinks the candidates need to engage with older Americans on some key issues. “Yes, we can talk about the pandemic, we can talk about vaccines,” he said, “but voters still expect candidates to focus on things like preventing cuts to Social Security and Medicare.” Pollsters also asked for feedback about the current challenges facing the country. In the 50-plus age group, a majority said they opposed how Trump is managing the pandemic. Other recent polls in Wisconsin show the race tightening, with Biden hanging on to a slim lead. Wilson said full poll results from AARP will be released Tuesday. And even though absentee voting is expected to be popular this fall because of the coronavirus, he said the polling indicates many older Americans plan to stick to their traditional form of election participation.
“We are still seeing that, in the 50-plus population, almost half still intend to show up at the polls,” he said. AARP Wisconsin recently launched a campaign called Protect Voters 50-plus, which Wilson said is designed to help Americans age 50 and older vote safely, whether at home or in person.
