Opinion: Poll finds seniors unclear on candidates’ positions

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The first in an upcoming series of issue polls of AARP members gives a very poor report card to the candidates of both parties for explaining their views on issues of importance to people over 50. Candidates beware because these are the folks who vote more conscientiously than others.

The poll, being released at this hour, covered 1,000 AARP members (half Democrats, half Republicans) in Iowa, Nevada, Florida, New Hampshire and South Carolina between July 24 and Aug. 16 with a margin of error of +/-4.4 percentage points.

The results look volatile at this early stage. While they found Democrats following the primary races more closely than Republicans, they also found that 65% of Democrats and 78% of Republicans say they are at least somewhat likely to change their candidate preference before election day in November 2008.

But at this stage the respondents had very murky impressions of individual candidate positions on a number of issues like financial security for seniors or who can best break through partisan gridlock.

Both Democrats and Republicans agree that Iraq is the top issue and healthcare is No.2. But Democrats think the economy/jobs is third while Republicans list immigration and terrorism next followed by the economy/jobs. In specific states, immigration ranks second in Nevada and South Carolina Republicans while terrorism jumps to second in Florida.

According to AARP, exit polls last fall showed that voters over age 49 cast half the ballots. The group intends to continue the polls through the fall to track candidates’ emerging positions on senior issues and the resulting shifts in members’ candidate preferences. The complete results of the first poll are available here.

--Andrew Malcolm