Morning Consult executive features editor Anna Yukhananov on Friday said that the voting mentality of voters older than 65 has shifted amid new focus on Medicare and drug prices ahead of the midterms.
“If you look at seniors, they haven’t voted for a Democrat for president since Al Gore in 2000, and even then it was 50 percent,” Yukhananov told Hill.TV’s Krystal Ball on “What America’s Thinking.”
“So it’s quite interesting that a lot of the focus has been on Medicare and drug pricing, and other issues have shifted the mentality of that group,” she continued.
Yukhananov was referencing a recent Morning Consult poll, which showed that 52 percent of seniors saying they would prefer a Democratic candidate, while only 33 percent said they would vote for a Republican candidate.
The poll comes as a number of Democrats have increasingly joined the push for Medicare for all ahead of the midterms.
Medicare for all has become increasingly popular in the Democratic Party, especially among the party’s potential 2020 presidential contenders.
However, President Trump has lambasted the proposal and last week attacked it in an op-ed in USA Today, saying the plan would harm senior citizens.
“Seniors would lose access to their favorite doctors,” Trump wrote. “There would be long wait lines for appointments and procedures. Previously covered care would effectively be denied.”
— Julia Manchester
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