CNN’s Brownstein: Biden Leading with Older Voters After Republicans Suggested Seniors ‘Had Duty to Die’

CNN political analyst Ron Brownstein on Sunday pointed out that former Vice President Joe Biden has opened up a considerable lead among seniors after Republicans and those aligned with them suggested during the coronavirus pandemic that older voters “had a duty to die” for Wall Street and the economy.

“The new wrinkle is that, while Biden is not really enthusing young people, particularly non-white young people, he’s running better among older white voters since Al Gore in 2000, which was the last Democrat to carry seniors,” Brownstein said. “Comments by many Republicans are suggesting that seniors almost had a duty to die to let the economy keep going.”

Brownstein pointed out that Biden is now leading among seniors in some of the most critical swing states like Wisconsin, Arizona, Florida, and Pennsylvania.

“So while Biden may not succeed at expanding the electorate in the way that Bernie Sanders might have or Barack Obama did, he may be able to expand the map by appealing more to older whites,” Brownstein concluded.

Apparently Trump has not been helped by some of the commentators, agitators, and wanna-be influencers on the right who went out of their way, often from the comfort of their air-conditioned home offices, to make callous remarks about seniors during the coronavirus pandemic. Politicians like Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick (R), who also suggested that older people wanted to risk their lives for the economy, apparently did not help Trump win over the critical—and extremely reliable—senior vote during coronavirus pandemic.

A Quinnipiac poll released on Wednesday found that Biden has a 10-point lead over Trump among seniors.

And as Axios noted this weekend, “among the 65+ crowd, it’s women driving the exodus.” The outlet pointed out that Biden has a 22-point lead among female voters in the 65+ group, and “that’s what gets Biden to a 10-point overall lead over the president among seniors.”

“There is a big gender gap among seniors in the matchup, just as there is among all registered voters,” Quinnipiac poll director Doug Schwartz reportedly said. “Older women really like Joe Biden, and they really don’t like Donald Trump.”

The Quinnipiac poll also found that since February, “Biden has increased his lead over Trump with independent 65+ voters, from seven to 20 points.”

The Christian Science Monitor pointed out this month that a Morning Consult poll found that Trump’s “approval rating among voters over the age of 65 dropped 20 points between March and the end of April, making seniors more critical of the president’s performance than any other age group aside from 18- to 29-year-olds.”

The Monitor interviewed a couple from Vero Beach, Florida, who have been registered Republicans for nearly 70 years. In 2016, they reportedly voted for Trump despite having “had some reservations,” but after “his disastrous handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, they can’t imagine voting for him again.”

The outlet also interviewed a lifelong Republican for nearly 60 years from North Carolina, another critical must-win state for Trump, who voted for Trump in 2016 but is now reportedly a member of a “Republicans for Biden” Facebook group.

She simply told the Monitor: “The people my age, we have become dispensable.”