African-American Voters in South Carolina

Source: AARP.org | May 7, 2007

AARP and the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies recently released the results of a survey designed to gain insight into the issues African-Americans voters in South Carolina want political candidates to address.

The survey results show that more than eight in ten people polled consider the issues of affordable health care (85%), strengthening Social Security (82%), and the cost of prescription drugs (81%) to be important considerations in their choice of a presidential candidate. Nearly all think candidates for President should commit to action on affordable health care (97%), retirement security (96%), and family financial security (95%).

In addition, maintaining a strong Social Security system is important to African-American retirement security. One-third (33%) of African-American likely voters in South Carolina will rely on Social Security as their major source of income in retirement. Fewer expect to rely mainly on an employer-sponsored pension plan (19%) and more expect to rely mostly on their own retirement savings (43%).

"A candidate must clearly state his or her views on health care, Social Security, and other issues important to African-Americans and the public at large, so that voters will have the opportunity to make an informed choice about which candidate to vote for," said Joyce Payne, member, AARP National Board of Directors. The survey reported that African-American voters in South Carolina are already highly engaged in the 2008 Presidential campaign. Eighty-five percent are either very or somewhat closely following coverage even though the South Carolina primary is almost one year away.