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A lot of attention is paid to the youth vote, especially will they or won't they cast a ballot. But the senior vote is much more assured and in Wisconsin people over the age of 50 are the largest voting block. That's according to AARP Wisconsin out with a recent election poll heading into November 5. Jim Flaherty of AARP Wisconsin joins us now and thanks for being here.
Oh, thanks for having me. So when we say that the senior vote in Wisconsin is more assured, what does your poll say about their enthusiasm to vote?
Our poll, which came out after the last presidential debate, so fresh in people's minds shows that those age 15 over are the most motivated demographic of any voters in Wisconsin. More than nine out of ten voters over age 50
were polled said that they are extremely motivated to vote in this election, which should be a wake up call for candidates to say, Hey, you got to start listening to what these 50 plus voters are saying.
So as with other polls, the candidates in the presidential and U.S. Senate race here are neck and neck. Apart from the horse race of it, though, what issues are especially salient for people over 50?
Well, 77% of voters age 15 older are saying that candidates positioned on social security are very, very important to them. That's followed by obviously Medicare, same, just about as high 69%.
Helping people to remain living in their homes as long as possible. We call those family caregivers, 63% cost of prescription drugs and their medications is still very much top of mind.
Four out of five, so 79% of Wisconsin voters prefer a member of Congress who wants Medicare to continue to negotiate for lower drug prices. So, you know, these are these are pocketbook issues.
You know, can I afford to pay for my monthly medications while also paying rent and food. A lot of people have to cut their pills in half just to be able to get by. There's a lot of people struggling across Wisconsin and it's it really is time for candidates to pay attention to that.
So does one candidate or the other have positions best aligned to protect these pocketbooks?
Yeah, and we're at we're nonpartisan and we don't give any money to either side. We don't take any position. We've got about 800,000 plus members in Wisconsin.
But we do not talk about and we can't talk about, you know, which candidate has a better position than the other, but we can talk about the issues.
And one of them I do want to talk about is this issue of family caregivers. If I may for just a second, family caregivers, there's about 600,000 of them in Wisconsin. These are folks who are raising their own families.
They have their own jobs and they're helping out loved ones so that they can remain living in their own homes and communities as long as possible.
And these are the unsung heroes of Wisconsin. They do things like helping loved ones with meal preparation, medication management, bill paying, transportation, bathing sometimes, driving them to church and to the grocery store.
Without these family caregivers, which we refer to as the backbone of Wisconsin's long term care system, it would the whole system would fall apart.
There will always be a need for assisted living and for nursing homes, but family caregivers are the heroes of Wisconsin. And as the state gets older, ARP believes that the state should do more to support this group.
Well, I was going to ask what kind of supports for that would get older people's vote?
What kind of support for that would get older people's vote?
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So I was going to ask you what kind of support.
So I was going to ask you what kind of supports for allowing people to live independently at home would get older people's vote?
That's a great question. And at the state level, we, ARP is advancing an idea called a caregiver tax credit.
The governor has had it in his last two budgets, but it's been removed later in the process by the Joint Finance Committee.
This would be a $500 income tax credit that would go to family caregivers.
And it could help offset some of the costs that they incur while providing this care.
Family caregivers spend about $7,000 a year out of their own pocket to help their loved ones remain in their homes.
This tax credit can help them with costs such as, you know, putting in a handicap ramp or a shower bar or any costs that they incur while providing care for a loved one.
They could write this off to up to $500. And we think that this is something the state legislature really needs to look at.
We'd also like hospitals to be able to be required to have conversations with family caregivers before they are discharged so that they have the right instructions.
To be able to care for a loved one because if you just, if you're just calling the person being discharged, sometimes it goes in one ear and out the other, you know.
But if the caregivers there, you can talk about Medicaid management, wound care, how to, you know, how to reapply appointments, things like that.
And so a lot of hospitals say, well, we're already doing that, but we just like, well, if you're already doing it, great, but we'd love to see that required to have hospitals sit down with caregivers and have that conversation.
And then we'd like to see that.
And then we'd like to see it pass through something called the care act, which has passed in many, many other states and we'd like to see it pass in Wisconsin as well.
So meanwhile, heading into election day, how are seniors fairing in Wisconsin right now?
Well, like I say, some, you know, many, many are struggling.
We are the state office of a huge national office and we go all over the state.
And the cross matters in Kenosha.
And folks are telling us, you know, they're struggling.
They really want candidates to listen to their concerns.
And a lot of the most of them are pocketbooks issues.
They are concerned about the economy, utility rates rising without them having a say in it.
They want to be able to have somebody who has their back.
And that's what these candidates can provide is saying, you know, we understand the struggles that you are going through as an older Wisconsin.
And we've got your back.
And, you know, you don't have to talk to A or P, you can talk to anyone on the street to know that Wisconsin is getting older.
More and more baby boomers are retiring every single day.
And these, so we're going to have an older state and we got to do things to support them.
Some things like making sure we have high speed internet in every community across the state.
That is no longer a luxury.
It is a requirement.
Folks who aren't close to hospital systems or clinics, they rely on telehealth.
So that's how they can communicate with their doctors.
It mitigates social isolation so that these folks can talk to loved ones.
Broadband expansion is huge for Wisconsin seniors.
And it's something that needs to be addressed.
All right.
We leave it there, Jim Flaherty, AARP Wisconsin. Thank you.
Thank you.
For more on this and other issues facing Wisconsin, visit our website at pbswisconsin.org
and then click on the news tab.
To see all of our election coverage, visit wisconsinvote.org.
That's our program for tonight at Frederica Freiberg.
Have a good weekend.
Thank you.
I'd like to say there's 600,000 of them.
A lot of people don't even realize they do it.
They're like, oh, no, I just do that because I love my mom.