Giving Compass' Take:
- Amanda Becker examines why women over 50 are considered a "wild card" demographic who may end up deciding who wins the 2024 presidential election.
- How can donors and funders support increased engagement of voters across demographics, particularly overlooked demographics?
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- Search our Guide to Good for nonprofits focused on democracy in your area.
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On a recent autumn evening, the AARP convened a small group of journalists in a hotel dining room a stone’s throw from the White House to discuss a group of overlooked but dedicated voters that could determine the outcome of the presidential race: Women over 50.
At each place setting was a 25-page briefing packet titled, “She’s the Difference: Women voters 50+.” It was prepared by AARP and pollsters Kristen Soltis Anderson of Echelon Insights, a Republican, and Margie Omero of GBAO, a Democrat. They were present at the dinner to present their findings, making a compelling case for why the group of women they’d started calling the “wild card” demographic could decide whether Republican Donald Trump or Democrat Kamala Harris ends up in the White House.
“We got very interested in older women voters a few years ago — nobody else was really focusing on them,” AARP Executive Vice President Nancy LeaMond said at the top of the briefing. “There are 63 million women voters over the age of 50 and about 97 percent of them say they are going to vote.”
Women Over 50 Are More Likely to Vote
Women over 50 are high-propensity voters — voter turnout rates increase with age and women vote at higher rates than men. So, in the final weeks ahead of an election, while campaigns focus on turning out other demographic groups at risk of staying home, like Gen Z voters or Black men, for women over 50, it’s still about persuasion. And they have expressed openness to it: AARP polling shows that this year, women over 50 have moved more than any other group of voters, including younger women and men in the same age bracket. And they moved in Harris’ favor.
“Young women had not really moved, they were voting for the Democratic candidate before, they were voting for the Democratic candidate afterwards. Older men had not really moved, they were supporting Trump before, they were supporting Trump afterwards. Younger men had moved a little bit, but it wasn’t a large amount of movement. The biggest movement, far and away, was these women, 50 plus,” Soltis Anderson said.
Read the full article about women voters over 50 by Amanda Becker at The 19th.