AARP poll highlights top issues for Georgia’s older voters

A new poll from AARP finds that older Georgia voters are highly motivated to vote this November with their top concerns being affordability of everyday items, health care and protecting social security.

Adrion Bell, associate state director of AARP Georgia, said the issues remained constant across party lines.

“Affordability, the cost of groceries, the cost of healthcare, cost of housing, cost of gasoline, that is all among the top concerns and issues that we feel may drive this election,” Bell said.

While only 62% of voters under 50 rated themselves a 10 out of 10 in motivation to vote, 88% of voters 50 and over expressed the high motivation.

Republicans lead in the polls among older voters in Georgia’s top races with 53% support for Republican Mike Collins for the Senate race. However, overall Democratic candidates lead in voter preferences in the Senate and governor’s race.

Bell said concerns over Social Security have remained high across elections.

“Forty-eight percent of the 50+ voters say they rely on Social Security as a major source of income but then that figure jumps to more than 65% of those voters who are 65 and older,” Bell reported.

The poll also found that 75% of older voters worry that data centers will cause their utility bills to go up and 85% said policymakers shouldn’t let that happen.

Older voters in Georgia are a decisive bloc of the electorate with one in eight voters over 50 being swing voters.