The silver lining in the generation gap confronting the nation’s oldest president ever may be, well, silver.
President Joe Biden’s struggles with younger voters have drawn enormous attention. But there’s been much less focus on the 81-year-old’s relative strength among his contemporaries.
While Biden’s support among young voters in polls now typically runs well below his vote share with them in 2020, multiple surveys show him holding, or even expanding, his backing among seniors. And while Biden’s plan to forgive student loan debts – his signature effort to bolster younger voters economically – was derailed by the Supreme Court, he has already finalized an array of concrete economic benefits for seniors, with more moving toward implementation.
On that front, a date that some Democrats are already circling on the election calendar is September 1, 2024. That’s when the administration is scheduled to announce the results of the first-ever negotiations between Medicare and large pharmaceutical companies to lower drug prices. The outcome could be substantial savings for seniors on 10 drugs taken by millions of Medicare recipients – announced only a little over two months before Election Day. And that’s just one component of an interlocked agenda on controlling drug and health care costs that could provide Biden a powerful calling card with older voters as it snaps into effect in the months ahead.
“Even though the vast majority of these benefits haven’t kicked in yet, I think people are very hopeful,” said Nancy LeaMond, executive vice president and chief advocacy and engagement officer for AARP, the giant lobby for seniors. “We thought there would be a lot of complaints about why can’t it be sooner. But what I’ve found as I talk to seniors is they may say I wish it was in effect today, but they also say at least it’s coming down the road. We…
Read the full article here
