The Field: The Shy Biden Voters Among Florida’s Seniors

Oct 30, 2020

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Florida’s seniors played an important role in President Trump’s victory there in 2016. Older voters, who are mostly conservative, make up around 25 percent of the swing state’s electorate and turn out in astonishing numbers.

They are also disproportionately affected by the pandemic, and polling suggests that Joe Biden is making inroads with Republican-leaning older voters.

In Florida’s conservative retirement communities, however, the decision to switch from Mr. Trump can have consequences and many stay quiet for fear of reprisals.

Some of these consequences are obvious: One resident who erected a sign in support of Mr. Biden woke up to “Trump” written in weedkiller on his lawn. Other effects are more personal, and more insidious.

Today, Annie Brown, a senior audio producer at The Times, speaks to some of Florida’s seniors about their voting intentions — including one, Dave Niederkorn, who has turned his back on Mr. Trump and almost lost a close friend in the process.

Guests: Annie Brown, a senior audio producer for The New York Times; and Patricia Mazzei,the Miami bureau chief of The Times, who covers Florida and Puerto Rico.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily

Background reading:

Older people are a crucial voting bloc in Florida. In a speech earlier this month, Joe Biden made his pitch to them.
“If it’s here, it’s here” — how retirees in Florida’s Villages confronted the coronavirus in the summer.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

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