Kamala Harris Gaining in Key Voting Group, New Polling Shows

Kamala Harris has made gains among female voters over 50, marking a significant gain over her predecessor and a larger margin than Democrats in the last two presidential elections.
Polling from AARP published in September found that 54 percent of older women support the vice president compared to 42 percent for former President Donald Trump. President Joe Biden had just a three-point lead over Trump among the same demographic in AARP’s January polling.
Pew Polling from the 2016 election found that women over 50 were more likely to vote for Hillary Clinton than Trump, but with a smaller gap — only around 48 percent for Clinton versus 40 percent for Trump.
Data from the 2020 election found that Biden had less support from women, with Trump narrowing the gap to just five points.
This trend has grown more noticeable since Harris took over as the Democratic nominee following Biden’s exit from the race in July. Emerson College polling found that Harris led Trump among women voters in all swing states except for Arizona, where she fell behind Trump by three points.
In Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, Harris has a roughly 10-point lead over Trump among women voters, the polling indicated.
Quinnipiac University polling from September also found Harris with a 12-point advantage over Trump for women overall, notching 53-percent support compared to Trump’s 41 percent.
Exit polls from 2020 found that women made up 52 percent of the national voting electorate.
AARP Executive Vice President Nancy LeaMond called older women voters “a big group that is very motivated to vote.”
“Our poling over the years has shown them to be a key swing voting bloc,” LeaMond said in comments released along with the polling data.
LeaMond also pointed out that Harris has noticed this bloc of voters and has offered plans to cover vision and hearing costs as part of Medicare, which would help appeal to some of their top concerns.
The polling found that rising costs and long-term financial security ranked high among concerns for women, impacting other vital issues such as prescription drugs, housing, social security and Medicare. On those issues, older female voters say they trust Harris more, according to AARP.
Only around 35 percent of those voters say that the economy is working well for them, personally, compared to 62 percent saying it isn’t. However, 41 percent say they are confident they will be better off financially in one year compared to 49 percent who are not confident.
After cost-of-living concerns, female voters over 50 ranked immigration, threats to democracy, retirement and abortion and reproductive rights as their chief concerns.
Newsweek reached out via email on Sunday to both the Trump and Harris campaigns for comment.