Senior citizens, long a reliable voting bloc for Republicans, are showing signs of turning into an election-year swing group, potentially giving President Biden an unlikely boost in his tough rematch against Donald Trump.
Americans ages 65 and older turn out at significantly higher rates than younger voters do, giving them outsize clout as they choose this year between the Democrat Biden, 81, and the Republican Trump, who turned 78 on Friday. Their contest looks tight in bellwether Door County, Wis., where retirees have flocked to this peninsula during the past decade, accelerated by the pandemic.
Sherry Mutchler, 74, wasn’t very active politically for much of her life, focused on raising her children and her career as an educator. But now in her retirement, she and her friends are working to deliver their Wisconsin community for Biden—and they are worried about the consequences if the president fails to win re-election.
“Democracy—we’re scared to death we’re going to lose it,” said Judy Brodd, 78, who co-chairs with her husband, Mike Brodd, Indivisible Door County, a grassroots group supporting progressive candidates. “It’s not because of us, but it’s for our grandchildren and our children.”
Mutchler said she is “totally obsessed” with the election, but she sometimes feels like she is “spinning my wheels and I’m doing a lot. But I feel like nothing I do changes anything.” She did, however, become more hopeful after local Democratic activists helped elect a local judge this spring.
