Motivated to Vote: Women Voters 50+ Still Weighing Their Options

With just five weeks until Election Day, a new AARP survey of likely women voters age 50+ explores differences and similarities among this critical voting demographic.  

Key Findings

Half of women voters 50 and over have yet to make a decision about how they will vote in the congressional election. 

• Our latest survey shows them evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans on the generic congressional ballot, with a sizeable number still making up their minds. 
  
  
• Four in ten will decide in the last few weeks before the election.

Women voters 50 and over are intensely concerned about a broad range of issues reflecting fears about economic instability and political discord. But they are not a monolith. 

• The issue agenda for Republican women 50-plus includes the most important issue of inflation and rising prices, followed by crime, immigration, and election security.
  
  
• In contrast, the top issues for Democratic women 50-plus are voting rights and threats to democracy, followed by gun violence and abortion. 
  
  
• The top issues for Independent women 50-plus are health care and prescription drugs, abortion, and inflation and rising prices.

While women voters 50 and over are split about how well the economy is working for them personally, many are taking steps to deal with the rising cost of living. 

• Two-thirds report cutting down on nonessential purchases and four in ten have cut back on essentials or taken money out of savings.
  
  
• About a third are less financially secure than they expected to be at this point in their lives. 

Women voters 50+ are more unified about economic solutions.

• Three-quarters say that protecting Social Security from cuts would personally help them a lot.
  
  
• This is followed by lowering the costs of food, gas, and health care, and expanding Medicare to cover dental and vision.

Methodology

AARP commissioned the bipartisan polling team of Lake Research Partners, GBAO Strategies, Echelon Insights, and Bellwether Research & Consulting to conduct a national survey of voters age 50 and over. The survey was fielded by phone and online September 6–13, 2022 using landline, cell, and text to web data collection. 

The final survey included interviews with 800 women voters age 50 and over who are likely to vote in 2022, with oversamples of 100 Black, 100 Hispanic/Latina English speaking, 100 Hispanic/Latina Spanish speaking, and 100 Asian American and Pacific Islander women voters 50-plus. Weighting resulted in an effective sample size of 802 likely women voters 50-plus.

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