Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2020-09-07)

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BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEK

3. PEOPLE

CHARACTERISTICS ○ Primarily White, overrepresented in battleground states

AGE ○ 65 and up

Inrecentyears,nogroupofvotershasbeenmoresolidlyRepublicanthanseniors—especiallyWhiteseniors.A HarvardUniversity

studyfoundthatin2016,Trumpwonseniorvotersby 13 pointsoverall,whileexitpollsshowhewonWhiteseniorvotersby

20 points.Butthatstrengthhasvanished:NogrouphasswunghardertoBidenthanseniorvoters.Recentpollsshowedhim

winning65+votersby9 points.AndbecauseseniorsareoverrepresentedinbattlegroundstatessuchasArizona,Florida,and

Michigan,theycouldprovetobe the key deciders in the election—if they stick with Biden and don’t swing back to Trump before

November.�Michael Smith

SWINGING SENIORS

JAY COPAN ○ 68 →

○ NORTH CAROLINA ○ retired

executive

“Iamabouttheworstthingfor

Trump.I am68,a seniorina swing

state,NorthCarolina,andI votedfor

himin2016.AndI supportedmany

ofthethingshehasdone.Butnoway

willI voteforhimin2020.It’sjust

beentoomuch.Every day has been

likea wildride.

“Ononesidearethebehavioral

issues.He’sa sociopath,a liar,a

narcissist,anda bully.Thenyouadd

tothatthefactthathehasshown,in

myopinion,zeroleadershipinthetwo

biggestcriseshehasfacedaspresident:

theCovidpandemicandtheracial

crisisafterthekillingofGeorgeFloyd.

“I’ma conservative,very

Republican.I havesupportedhistax

cuts,hisreducedregulatoryregime,

hisenergypolicy,andhisSupreme

Courtnominees.I havesupportedall

ofthis.ButI lookatthisandwonder

howcanI explaintomygrandchildren.

I wanttosayI votedforsomeonewho

willmakeAmericaa betterplace.And

thatis notTrump.AsforJoeBiden,

I thinkheis a decentandhonorable

man.Weneedsomeonewho can bring

this country together.”

DON PHILLIPS ○ 75 �

○ FLORIDA AND NORTH

CAROLINA ○ retired chief

financial officer

“IwouldsayI reluctantly
votedfor[Trumpin2016].I
traditionallyvotedDemocratic.I
wouldnevervoteforhimagain.
It’sjustthewayheconducts
himselfpersonally.Allthe
juvenilename-calling,theinsults.
Idon’tknowif he’sa racist.I
justthinkthere’sa lotofbluster
andnota lotofgettingthings
done.It turnsoutthata lotof
thethingshepromisedtodo,in
hisplatform,he’snotdone.The
ideaofblamingotherpresidents,
otherpeople,andnevertaking
anyresponsibility doesn’t sit well
withmeatall.
“Iamcomfortablevoting
forBiden.I thinkhe’shada long,
distinguishedcareer.I wishhe
wereyounger,buthe’snot.Given
thetwochoices,I definitely
favorBiden.Theytrytomake
himouttobea senileoldfool;
I don’tthinkheis.He’sgotthe
experience.I thinkhe’scalm.I
think he cares about people.”
LOCKWOOD:

PHOTOGRAPH

BY

ANDREW

SPEAR

FOR

BLOOMBERG

BUSINESSWEEK. COPAN:

PHOTOGRAPH BY KENNEDI CARTER FOR BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEK