Retirement Security, Family Caregivers Top Issues for Older Voters
By: Andrea Sears, Public News Service – CT
HARTFORD, Conn. – Retirement security and support for family caregivers are top issues for one of Connecticut’s largest and most reliable voting blocs, voters 50 and older.
A survey conducted for AARP Research found that more than three-quarters of older voters want state legislators to work toward implementation of the Connecticut Retirement Security Program so more workers can save for retirement.
According to Nora Duncan, state director of AARP Connecticut, 85 percent want candidates who support paid leave for family caregivers.
“Home care would be a choice that they would make for their loved ones over institutionalized care,” Duncan stresses. “And 76 percent of those folks support shifting state funds so that more is spent on home care and less is spent on institutional care.”
AARP has compiled a guide to candidates’ positions on issues important to older voters. It’s available online at aarp.org/vote.
Duncan adds that the survey found retirement security and health care are top concerns on the federal level too.
“We’re finding strengthening and reforming Social Security polling very high,” she points out. “Addressing the rising cost of prescription drugs is a huge concern, as is strengthening and reforming Medicare.”
Duncan says at least 70 percent of 50-plus voters in the state say candidates’ positions on these issues are very important to them.
The poll found that races for statewide offices are very tight, with almost a third of voters still undecided.
And Duncan points out that while the poll focuses on voters 50 and older, these concerns span several generations.
“It’s not a retiree who’s worried about that program for themselves,” she states. “They’re worried about it for their children and their grandchildren and for the health of our residents as they age.”
The survey is part of AAR-P’s nonpartisan “Be the Difference. Vote” campaign to encourage older Americans to make their voices heard at the ballot box.
