Women Voters 50+ Will Decide the Balance of Power in the 2022 Midterms

A new AARP survey reveals the priorities and concerns of a critical voting demographic that will determine the outcome of the 2022 midterm elections: women voters age 50 and older. 

Key Findings

Women voters age 50 and over haven’t decided which candidates to support.

• Only 17% of women in this important voting bloc have made up their mind about who they will vote for in the 2022 election. 
  
  
• About two-thirds (65%) of these voters say they will not make their decisions until weeks or just days before election day. 
  

The top issues for women voters age 50 and older are kitchen-table economics and the day-to-day experience of rising prices. 

• Nearly half (46%) rank rising cost of living as the most important issue facing the country today.
  
  
• 59% say rising prices are the most important thing to them personally when thinking about the economy.
  
  
• 72% are concerned about having enough income to keep up with rising costs, with 48% saying they are very concerned. 
  
  
• A majority (52%) say the economy is not working well for them, a 15-point change from 2019, when just 37% of women said the economy was not working well for them. 

Women voters age 50 and over are also concerned about political division in the country, and they are unimpressed with the job elected officials are doing on a range of issues. 

• By more than a two-to-one margin, these voters want a politician who is willing to work together to get things done, even if the result is an occasional compromise that goes against voters’ values (67%), over a politician who consistently fights for their values but doesn’t often find a solution (30%). 
  
  
• Significant majorities give elected officials D/F grades on issues including prices rising faster than income (82%), crime (78%), immigration (75%), cost of healthcare and prescription drugs (75%), and the wage gap between rich and poor (71%).  

Methodology

The AARP national survey was conducted by phone and online from February 18 to March 3, 2022 using NORC’s Foresight 50+ Panel. The survey was designed and analyzed by a bipartisan team of pollsters: Lake Research Partners, GBAO, Echelon Insights, and Bellwether Research. The final poll included 1,836 voters age 50 and over who are likely to vote in 2022, with oversamples of Black voters, Hispanic/Latino voters, Asian American/Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander voters as well as American Indian/Alaska Native voters. The survey includes a sample of 984 women voters age 50 and over.

For more information, contact Rachelle Cummins at rcummins@aarp.org. Media inquiries should be directed to External Relations at media@aarp.org.