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Older voters tipped the scales when it came to control of the U.S. House of Representatives, and in the most hotly contested congressional districts.
Among the 43 most competitive districts, half of voters 50-plus say they cast their ballot for the Republican candidate and 47 percent chose the Democrat, according to an exclusive AARP postelection poll released Friday. Among all voters, the electorate was evenly divided, at 48 percent.
In the new year, Republicans will retain a slim majority in the House and control the U.S. Senate and the presidency.
Older voters were a majority of the overall electorate, at 52 percent, according to AP VoteCast.
AARP commissioned the bipartisan team of Republican firm Fabrizio Ward and Democratic pollster Impact Research to look at voting in competitive congressional races. The firms interviewed 2,348 likely voters from Nov. 6 to 10; the poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percent.
The congressional district poll results reflect the sign of the political times: Americans are closely divided over which party they want in charge, says Jeff Liszt, a partner with Impact Research.
“At first blush, it looked like there was a big Republican sweep of momentum this year,” Liszt says. Though the GOP will maintain control of the House, “their majority will be an incredibly narrow majority.”
Bob Ward, a partner with Fabrizio Ward, agrees. “It was so tight, and I think that while Republicans ran the table on this election, we’re not in an environment where they are so dominant in our politics that these were landslide elections.”
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