A recent article in the Wall Street Journal noted that “older voters loom large in elections this year.” That statement may hold true in Nevada despite a slightly younger electorate based on the latest voter registration data. 

A survey conducted by AARP Nevada in June among likely Nevada voters found that voters ages 50 and older will have an “outsized importance” in this year’s election. Survey results show 85% of Nevada voters age 50 and older are “extremely motivated” to vote this November, while just 60% of voters ages 18-49 are.

Adam Czajkowski, managing partner of Reno-based political consulting firm Tallac Strategies, said that in any other year, he’d expect voter motivation to be more even, but the poll’s results make sense for this year.

“It doesn’t surprise me that large swaths of voters 50+ are extremely motivated to vote in November,” he said. “I’ve heard from my local candidates that voters 50+ are worried about attacks on their retirement, Social Security benefits and Medicare. They have seen rights that have been the norm their whole life eroded by this Supreme Court and many are worried that Democracy itself is on the ballot.”

Those working to rally who they call “experienced Americans” are also not surprised. Nevada native B Fulkerson is the lead national organizer for Third Act, an organization bringing together people aged 60 and older working to protect the climate and democracy. 

“There is no known force to keep a senior citizen from voting,” Fulkerson said. “It shows older voters and elders are powerful and important.”

Fulkerson, like Czajkowski, said economic issues, including Social Security and Medicare, are the most pressing for older voters.

MIT political scientist Andrea Louise Campbell wrote a book, literally, on political activism among older voters. She wrote that the growth of Social Security in the 1950s “fueled the increase in senior participation over time.” 

Campbell’s book, published in 2003, reflected on activism among older voters in the 1980s and ‘90s. People who were as young as in their 20s and 30s then are now, however, engaged voters still working to actively protect those programs and wielding their votes to warn lawmakers against making cuts to them. 

While Fulkerson and Czajkowski agree that these social programs are motivating, they also said that other policy issues are emerging as priorities for older voters. 

Protecting the climate and democracy are also top concerns, Fulkerson said. 

“We remember a time when our democracy and a livable planet were not in question,” they said. “Today, both of those are up for grabs.” 

Czajkowski said access to abortion is galvanizing women voters across the political spectrum. 

“Protecting reproductive freedom was the number one issue in the primary and it looks to be similar for the general election, and it doesn't seem like that is limited to just Democratic women in Nevada,” he said. He pointed to other states that have put in place abortion bans or severe restrictions that are limiting healthcare options and causing infant mortality rates to rise.

“Women are motivated to turn out and prevent that here in Nevada,” he added. Fulkerson agreed, saying older women are not about to sit out the fight come election day. 

That sentiment is reflected in the national data. The Kaiser Family Foundation surveyed women voters in late May and early June and found that in states that have abortion measures on the ballot—including Nevada—more than 80% of both Democrat and Republican women said they were “absolutely certain” they would vote in November’s election.

How they are voting 

In AARP Nevada’s poll, voters older than 50 said they were more likely to vote for Republican candidates in the national races, favoring convicted felon and former President Donald Trump over Democratic President Joe Biden. 

This somewhat contradicts what older voters have said—that protecting Social Security and Medicare are top priorities. Trump has flip-flopped on whether he’d maintain or cut spending for both programs and during his last term, his budgets each called for cuts to them. Biden, on the other hand, has said he’d maintain funding and work to strengthen the programs.

Among all voters, Trump’s lead would narrow, especially if Robert F. Kennedy Jr. were out of the race. At that point, with a head-to-head match-up between Trump and Biden, AARP notes the race would be within a few percentage points. Voters under age 50 are more likely to vote for Democratic candidates. 

That bears out with the results of a data analysis conducted last year by the Pew Research Center. Researchers found that people were more likely to vote for candidates of either party if that party had a successful and popular president in the White House when that person was growing up and began voting.

For voters 50 and older, successful presidents they grew up with include Republicans Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford and Dwight Eisenhower. People under age 50 grew up with Clinton and Obama, thus the lean toward Biden.