A survey of older Iowans who are likely to help determine the Democratic Party’s next presidential nominee finds health care to be a major concern. Bruce Koeppl, the AARP’s state director, says his group surveyed just over 500 Democrats who are AARP members.
"They are a group of folks who have been to a caucus before and have told us they intend to go again," he says. According to the survey, 99 percent of older Iowans are reviewing the candidates’ stands on health care and 97 percent are sizing up the candidates’ plans for addressing pension and Social Security reform.
"But they’ve said, basically as they begin to make up their minds on who they’re going to support that they still need to learn more about these issues of health care and financial security," Koeppl says. "These issues are very important to them and…what they hear from the candidates will really impact who they’re going to support."
Koeppl contends the next election may hinge on those key domestic issues rather than Iraq and the conflict in the Middle East. The AARP will survey like Republican Caucus-goers later this month. The AARP held a Democratic candidate forum last month in Davenport, but the forum they’ve scheduled for Sioux City later this month has RSVPs from just two Republicans — John McCain and Mike Huckabee.