When asked, “Are you better off today than you were four years ago?” the answer for many older voters ages 50 and over was “no,” according to a new postelection poll released by AARP.  Harris was bad for the majority and country.

     Almost half — 47% — of voters ages 50 and over said they are “worse off now,” the research found, while more than half — 55% — of swing voters in that age cohort said the same.  In competitive congressional districts, President-elect Donald Trump won the 50 and over vote by 2 percentage points — the same margin by which he carried the country, AARP found.  Among voters 50 to 64, Trump won by 7 points. With voters ages 65 and over, Vice President Kamala Harris won by 2 points.

     AARP commissioned Fabrizio Ward and Impact Research, a bipartisan team of Republican and Democrat firms providing public opinion research and consulting, to conduct the survey. Interviews were conducted with 2,348 “likely voters” in targeted congressional districts following Election Day between Nov. 6 and 10. Older voters, who make up an outsized share of the vote and tend to lean Republican, made a difference in a lot of key congressional races, according to Bob Ward, a Republican pollster and partner at Fabrizio Ward.

     “Overall, 50-plus voters really are what delivered Republicans their majority,” Ward said.  When asked “How worried are you about your personal financial situation?” in a June AARP survey, 62% of voters ages 50 and over checked the worry box, while 63% of voters overall did the same.  Voters continued to place an emphasis on their money concerns on Election Day, the latest AARP poll found.  “All these surveys that we conducted for AARP spoke to a lack of economic security for people,” said Jeff Liszt, partner at Impact Research.  “The shock of inflation had left them without a feeling of security,” he said.

     For voters ages 50 and over, food ranked as the top cost concern, with 39%, the poll found. That was followed by health care and prescription drugs, with 20%; housing, 14%; gasoline, 10%; and electricity, 6%. More than half — 55% — of voters ages 50 and up said they prioritized personal economic issues, including inflation, the economy and jobs, and Social Security when determining their vote.