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AARP Poll: Harris and Trump Are Neck and Neck Among Wisconsin Voters

The presidential race is tight In key battleground state


spinner image two hands place a red and blue ballot into a ballot box, in front of the outline of wisconsin
AARP (Source: Getty images (5))

In the presidential battleground state of Wisconsin, Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump are neck and neck among likely voters, with Harris up 1 percentage point, according to an exclusive AARP poll released Wednesday.

Forty-nine percent of likely voters favor Harris while 48 percent support Trump in a head-to-head matchup. When the lens shifts to voters 50-plus, former President Trump takes a 3-percentage-point lead over Vice President Harris, according to the poll. Fifty percent of older voters prefer Trump, while 47 percent favor Harris.

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The latest presidential poll results, which are within the poll's margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent for likely voters and plus or minus 3.5 percent for older voters, show a shift from an AARP Wisconsin poll taken in late June and early July when voters were asked about a matchup between Democratic President Joe Biden and GOP candidate Trump. In that summer poll, Trump was 5 percentage points ahead of Biden among all voters, and he led Biden by 9 points among voters 50-plus. Harris became the Democratic presidential nominee Aug. 5 after Biden announced he was ending his reelection campaign.

The new data shows “it’s a completely different race,” says Bob Ward, a partner with Fabrizio Ward, which conducted the bipartisan AARP-commissioned survey along with Impact Research.

Pollsters interviewed 1,052 likely Wisconsin voters about candidates and top issues from Sept. 11-14, starting a day after Harris and Trump debated. Asked who won the debate, 55 percent of all voters say Harris while 23 percent choose Trump, according to the poll.

spinner image Wisconsin voters fifty and over slightly favor donald trump over kamala harris
AARP (Source: Getty images)

Wisconsin provides 10 electoral votes toward the 270 total needed to win the presidency. In 2020, Biden won Wisconsin with a margin of just 0.63 percentage points.

Overall, the new polling data is “in many ways more normal,” Ward says.

For example, the poll shows there is “almost lockstep unity” among Democrats behind Harris as opposed to the summer poll when younger voters showed dissatisfaction with Biden, Ward says. The poll shows 4 percent of voters say they will support a third-party candidate compared with 13 percent over the summer, Ward says.

Voters also were asked about Wisconsin’s U.S. Senate race. Among voters of all ages, 50 percent favor Democratic incumbent Tammy Baldwin versus 47 percent for Republican challenger Eric Hovde — a 2-percentage-point gain for Hovde among all voters from the June/July poll. Among voters 50-plus, Hovde has a 1-percentage-point lead over Baldwin in the recent poll.

The data shows that some voters plan to split their tickets by voting for candidates from different parties, says Jeff Liszt, a partner with Impact Research.

spinner image Wisconsin voters on who they back in the senate race
AARP (Source: Getty images)

Sixteen percent of older voters, who make up 10 percent of Wisconsin voters overall, say they are not committed to voting for candidates from one party.

“There’s still enough ticket splitters, enough persuadable voters over 50, to swing the Senate race, to swing the presidential, any of these contests in Wisconsin,” Liszt says. 

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Plenty of enthusiasm for voting

Interest in voting in November is higher than it was in the June/July poll, especially among older adults. Eighty-seven percent of all likely Wisconsin voters are “extremely motivated to vote,” a number that increases to 90 percent among voters 50-plus. In the summer poll, 76 percent of all likely voters and 85 percent of voters 50-plus said they were “extremely motivated to vote.”

Fifty-eight percent of older voters say they plan to vote at the polls on Election Day, while 21 percent plan to vote early in person, and 18 percent say they will vote by absentee ballot.

spinner image wisconsin voters say they are extremely motivated to vote
AARP (Source: Getty images)

“Wisconsin voters, especially people who are 50-plus, are highly motivated to vote and will turn out and will, as they always have, decide the election,” says Martha Cranley, AARP’s Wisconsin state director. “Candidates need to be paying attention to these issues that voters in Wisconsin are interested in.”

Most voters in Wisconsin are worried about the future of the country. Thirty-eight percent of voters 50-plus say the country is moving in the right direction, while 58 percent are concerned the nation is headed the wrong way. Among voters of all ages, 35 percent say the U.S. is going in the right direction, and 60 percent say it’s moving in the wrong direction.

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Social Security, Medicare, cost of housing top concerns for older voters

When it comes to issues, older voters rank Social Security (77 percent), Medicare (69 percent) and policies to help older adults live independently at home as they age (63 percent) as extremely important when deciding on a candidate. Also among their top concerns are the cost of prescription drugs (59 percent), the cost of utilities (57 percent) and the cost of housing (53 percent).

Finances are top of mind for older voters in Wisconsin, 54 percent of whom are worried about their personal financial situation. Fifty-three percent of voters 50 and older say Social Security is or will become a major source of income for their household. The majority of older adults surveyed (92 percent) say they would be more likely to support a candidate who ensures older workers receive their Social Security benefits.

“We have an aging population,” Cranley says. “Because of that, you have a higher percentage of people living on a fixed income, relying on Social Security, relying on other forms of assistance.”

spinner image social security, aging at home and medicare are most important to voters
AARP (Source: Getty images)

On the issues most important in deciding their votes in this election, older adults list immigration and border security (35 percent); the economy and jobs (27 percent); inflation and rising prices (24 percent); threats to democracy (22 percent); and abortion and reproductive issues (21 percent) as top factors.

Twenty-seven percent of older voters in Wisconsin report being a caregiver for an older or ill adult or someone with a disability. Twenty-eight percent of caregivers 50-plus say they spend 21 or more hours a week doing so, while 19 percent spend 11 to 20 hours per week caregiving.

Voters who are 50-plus want to see more assistance for caregivers. Seventy-one percent say they would be more likely to back a candidate who advocates for family caregivers who help loved ones live independently in their own homes. Sixty-seven percent are more likely to support candidates who advocate for tax credits for unpaid family caregivers. Sixty-six percent would be more likely to vote for candidates advocating for paid leave for caregivers.

Ward says winning over older voters who are caregivers should be on the radar screen for those running for office. “Both candidates can pay more attention to them,” Ward says. “They are up for grabs in that regard.”

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