How Democrats Won Over Older Voters--And Flipped the House

[DonViejo]

Democrats were victorious because they fought Republicans to a draw among Americans age 50 and up. How they did that is the story of the 2018 election.

By ZACK STANTON, STEVEN SHEPARD and RUAIRÍ ARRIETA-KENNA November 13, 2018

WIND LAKE, Wis. — In this unincorporated town on the other side of the border from the famed political bellwether of Waukesha County, Gary Bebler could sense that something was going to be different about the 2018 midterm elections.

Bebler, the 62-year-old owner of Gary’s Wind Lake Boathouse, a rustic restaurant and bar in a sparsely populated area where everyone seems to know everyone else, tries to stay apolitical. “Being a bar owner, you’ve got to listen to both sides,” he told POLITICO Magazine in early November while sitting at a table in his establishment. And lately, he’s been listening to customers spout off about politics a lot more than usual. “In the past, I never heard that much,” Bebler said. “But this year, it’s common. Every night, somebody’s going to go off.”

His clientele is mostly people over age 50, overwhelmingly white, and heavily Republican. In 2016, Donald Trump won Wind Lake’s surrounding community by a 3-to-1 margin. Even so, said Bebler, “I have a feeling there’s more sleeper Democrats out there. But in this environment, they’re not going to say it.”

This year, “from what I’ve heard people saying, they think it’s really important to get out and vote,” Bebler said. He demurs when asked about his own politics. “But I can tell you what people say.”

One of Gary’s regulars is Willy Ellertson, a 55-year-old cardiac lab technician who volunteers on weekends as an emergency responder for the Wind Lake Fire Department. A Republican, he’s glad that Trump is in the White House, and says that people in these parts are happy “because of promises that he made that they are hoping change things.” Ellertson wants Obamacare repealed and replaced. Yet he’s troubled by aspects of the alternative offered by congressional Republicans. “I’m on the same page as everybody else in thinking that pre-existing conditions need to be covered,” he said. “And I do think it could affect how people vote for Congress.”

more
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/11/13/2018-election-analysis-democrats-republicans-politics-222412

[True_Blue]

1. Sinema campaigned on healthcare

And she slammed McSally over & over again for her vote to repeal ACA.

[Merlot]

2. You can't repeal the ACA and cover pre existing conditions at the same time

The whole point of the ACA was that a larger pool of "customers" would defray the costs of covering pre-existing conditions. The insurance industry loved getting all those new sign-ups on their rolls with gov't subsidys, that was the trade off for covering pre-existing conditions.

Well, there is one way of doing both - it's called Medicare for all.