Some voters could hold President Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and its deadly impact on nursing homes against him when they head to the polls in November, according to a new polling report by NBC News.
“While many of these voters blamed Trump for mismanaging the pandemic, others said they thought state leaders were at fault for the deadly toll of the coronavirus on nursing homes and on the country at large,” the report states.
Exit polls from swing states have found that seniors ages 65 and older are either favoring Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden over Trump, or are split on the two candidates — a large shift from four years ago when Trump led the category by seven points.
Many older voters and their relatives have cited their concerns about the administration’s management of the pandemic, especially in nursing homes, and the disease’s deadly effect on seniors as key reasons on which way they’ll vote.
Rose Konecky, 38, told the news organization her family has been unable to visit her 80-year-old father who has Alzheimer’s at his long-term care facility and their experience has impacted how they’ll vote in the presidential race.
“He doesn’t remember — all he knows is that we really don’t come and visit. It’s really sad,” Konecky said, adding that she’s voting for Biden.
There have been more than 80,000 deaths and nearly 500,000 COVID-19 cases in long-term care, according to new research from the Kaiser Family Foundation. Long-term care deaths make up 41% of total coronavirus deaths in the country and 8% of total cases.
“It’s made it much more of an emotional choice. Every night before I go to bed, I write postcards to voters,” she added. “The pandemic is one of these issues where the politics become personal — to an extreme extent.”
