Debates Skirt Top Issues on Minds of Many Voters 50+

"I think all the other stuff happening this year has taken a front seat,” says Baker, 52, who spoke with AARP as he waited in a long line to cast his ballot on the first day of Georgia's early voting. Baker says voters are having to find other ways to learn where candidates stand on the issues most important to them. While the debates were silent on 50-plus issues, both campaigns have promised, in paid advertising, to protect Social Security and Medicare.

Baker and other voters 50-plus interviewed by AARP say they have turned to alternate sources to get information about where the candidates stand on the issues they care about — including the interviews the AARP Bulletin conducted with Trump and Biden. AARP's questions for the two candidates focused on Social Security, Medicare, prescription drugs, nursing home safety and caregiving.

Taken for granted

Cheryl Jefferson says she closely watched both debates and was very concerned that those issues were never brought up.

"The 50-plus community needs to know that their Social Security is going to be intact, that their Medicare is going to continue, and that prescription drug costs are going to be reduced,” says Jefferson, a 67-year-old retired mortgage banker from Jacksonville, Florida.

Inattention to issues important to older Americans makes some voters over 50 worry that such an attitude will carry over to how politicians govern.

"If they are not thinking about these issues now or mentioning it during the election, when somebody is elected will these be issues of concern for them to work on?” asks Mary Roberge, 73, of Manchester, New Hampshire. Roberge, who is a semiretired Medicare benefit specialist for a nonprofit group that helps people with brain injuries and developmental disabilities, says she hates to say it but believes the candidates may be taking older voters for granted.

Fellow New Hampshire resident Patrick McDermott says ignoring 50-plus issues hasn't been confined to the presidential and vice-presidential debates. A face-off last week between two congressional candidates, McDermott says, failed to raise any issues important to Americans over age 50, despite the fact that he and others submitted questions ahead of time on Social Security, Medicare, long-term health care and prescription drugs. They weren't mentioned either during questions or the candidates’ statements.

"It is discouraging,” says McDermott, 66, a retired economic development and community relations specialist. “We're facing unprecedented issues and problems. Not addressing them now will make things worse going forward."