So we won’t know for sure until all demographic data is released on the 2020 election, but it sure looks like Trump didn’t do so hot with senior citizens this election cycle…or at least not for a Republican candidate.
While the media has focused myopically on why Trump did even slightly better with minority voters (he still lost them unequivocally), they don’t seem very interested why Trump may have done worse with senior citizens than any Republican candidate in decades.
I offer some helpful answer here…
1. Biden has always done much, much better with older voters than most Democrats, just as I predicted he would in an article I wrote in March. [I can’t imagine Buttigieg, Warren, or even Sanders would be doing this well with older voters.]
The reason Trump was correct to be afraid of Biden (it’s the only Democratic candidate he truly did not want to run against) is because Joe—for a Democratic candidate—does significantly better with older voters, rural voters, and white working class voters. This is Trump’s base. And these are also reliable voters, and if Trump doesn’t win a majority of older voters, he’s going to lose.
2. Some of his voters are surely dead by now. In 2016, Trump did especially well with the VERY old, and some of those people have surely passed from CoVid, natural causes, unhealthy lifestyle, opioid overdose, etc.
3. Women live longer, meaning older female voters outnumber male voters. Trump’s support with white women has collapsed.
I know plenty of women who have said “He makes me sick.” I don’t mean “I disagree with his policies” or “he’s wrong for the country.” I mean they say “He makes me literally sick, and I can’t watch him” and I’ve never seen that for a sitting-President before. Anecdotally, the ONLY people who have ever argued with me about Trump on social media are white men.
4. Trump hammered Biden on his age…This was not only stupid on Trump’s part (Trump is only three years younger than Biden), but I could see it causing older voters some concern. Older people don’t like to be reminded of all the things they can’t do anymore, and constantly promoting the narrative of “Old Man Biden” or “Sleepy Joe” practically set Biden up for a comeback when he kicked Trump’s butt at the debates and Town Hall. Biden showing up as the “mental underdog” is somewhat inspiring for older Americans, who are too often told “Shut up dinosaur,” and Trump was essentially doing that to Biden.
5. “It’s CoVid, stupid.” Trump has had the world’s worst Coronavirus response. Old people are especially at risk of dying from this disease. When Trump says—and he says it daily—that “young people can’t get CoVid” that is not only untrue, but it basically is admitting “who gives a f*** about a bunch of old farts?”