Harris campaign woos seniors with Jefferson Starship, swing dancing

WASHINGTON – From swing dancing to ice cream socials, Vice-President Kamala Harris’ campaign will mark the 89th anniversary of Social Security this week with events aimed at older Americans who generally back Republicans.

Events in Arizona, Pennsylvania, Michigan, North Carolina and other key states will include performances by Cathy Richardson, lead singer for the band Jefferson Starship, and artists known for The Lion Sleeps Tonight and Da Doo Ron Ron.

Voters aged 65 and older vote at higher levels than any other group and account for nearly 10 million voters in the battleground states of Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada, and nearly 17 per cent of the overall US population.

Overall, senior voters backed Republican Donald Trump by seven percentage points in 2016 and by five points in 2020.

Ms Harris, who last week became the Democratic Party’s official candidate,

is leading Trump by four percentage points

each in opinion polls of voters in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan by the New York Times and Siena College.

The same polls showed Ms Harris leading Trump in a head-to-head match-up by 55 per cent to 42 per cent among voters aged 65 and older in those states.

After President Joe Biden, 81,

stepped aside over concerns about his age

, the Harris campaign suggested Trump’s age could be an issue, too.

“Trump is now the old guy in the race, 78 years old, and he’s got a few cognitive problems himself, so the shoe is completely flipped upside down here,” former Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean said in a quote distributed by the campaign in July. Ms Harris is 59.

Trump last week called for scrapping taxes on Social Security benefits for seniors, a position that could boost his support among that demographic, but experts say doing so could hasten the risk of insolvency for the old-age benefit plan.

About 40 per cent of Americans who receive Social Security benefits pay federal income tax, according to the Social Security Administration.

Repealing the tax could increase the budget deficit by US$1.6 trillion (S$2.1 trillion) to US$1.8 trillion through 2035, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

The Harris campaign had no immediate comment on Trump’s call to stop taxing Social Security for seniors. It noted that Trump had, in the past, called for cutting Social Security and Medicare.

Ms Margaret Washa, 76, a retired physical therapist from Middleton, Wisconsin, who donates regularly to Democratic candidates, said she felt momentum building for Democrats after Mr Biden stepped aside.

“I would happily donate to a PAC called ‘Boomers for Kamala & Walz’,” she said. REUTERS