Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC, and to close out the show today, we continue our week of midterm election call-ins for callers of different generations. Today, if you're in your 70s or 80s, what issues are most likely to inspire you to vote in the midterm elections? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. We're doing these call-ins to give you input and to ask for your help in planning our midterm election series, 30 Issues in 30 Days, which will begin next month.

We know from polling and from this program's own experience with callers that people from different generations, even if they agree with each other generally politically, sometimes have different issues that they key on the most, as the most relevant or salient to their voting decisions in a given year. We're taking it in different chunks this week. It was callers in your 20s or below on Monday, 30s and 40s Tuesday, 50s and 60s yesterday. Today it's for those of you in your 70s and 80s.

It's open phones in this 11:40 time slot all this week, on what issues you would like to hear us address in 30 Issues in 30 Days in this fraught election year with so many issues at stake, and yes, tomorrow we will do it for callers in your 90s or above, but today, if you're in your 70s or 80s, remember when Eric Adams was running for mayor last year and fighting Democratic primary challengers running to his left who had a lot of social media buzz and he said, "Elections aren't decided by people on social media. They're decided by people on Social Security." You remember that quote?

That would be you. Do you think you have different priorities than your kids or grandkids and their peers who we may have heard from earlier in the week? Maybe not Democratic versus Republican so much even, as which things within your party you focus on the most, but you tell us. Beth in Manhattan, you're on WNYC. Thank you so much for calling.

Beth: Thank you so much for putting me on. I am actually in the demographic you're talking about and we just pulled some data from the Board of Election from New York City, from Nassau, and from Suffolk to see who voted on the June 28th primary. That's why I'm so excited that you're doing this, because it turns out that in Suffolk County, 90% of the people who voted on June 28th were 50 and older.

Brian Lehrer: 90%.

Beth: It's jaw dropping, right? Nassau County was 80% of the voters were 50+, and in New York City, almost 70% were 50+. Bringing out the issues that are important--

Brian Lehrer: Eric Adams was right. Did you hear that quote I cited earlier?

Beth: No. I'm so sorry. I don't think I did.

Brian Lehrer: He said elections aren't decided by people on social media. Elections are decided by people on Social Security.

Beth: I think that's true because you know what, if you're running for office right now and you're not listening to the 50+, it's going to be hard to win. That's all I got to say. That's why I'm so pleased you're raising this. Social Security, not just for themselves, but for their children and their grandchildren, my children and my grandchildren too, Medicare, affordable drugs, although we just got that back now, so that's exciting. This data is really telling, I think. It's going to keep trending more, I think.

Brian Lehrer: That's on who votes. Do you see any particular issues popping this year? There are so many issues to choose from popping among the 50+, since that's what you cited, or particular to this call, to the 70+.

Beth: AARP, we survey our members all the time, but we really have our ear to the ground and what they're thinking. As I said before, Social Security and Medicare are [unintelligible 00:04:16] but also caregivers. People are taking care of their spouses, they're taking care of their family members as they age and people want to age in place. Everything that can be done to keep people aging in place but also to support those family caregivers who are really the backbone of our long-term care system. If they don't keep people in their homes, they end up in institutions and nobody wants that. That's also really important.

Brian Lehrer: Yes, those are all obviously important issues. Let me ask you one thing I'm curious about. I wonder, since you're the state director of AARP, if you're seeing any movement towards something like-- I don't know what to call it. Maybe it would be like a Senior Citizens Endemic Era Bill of Rights, since the 70+ Americans, anybody, are the most vulnerable to the severe effects of COVID that outdoor dining always be available, that remote work accommodations be available if you're still in the workforce or anything like that.

Beth: Well, I think what we're seeing is, obviously, having access to the internet and broadband is really essential for all generations, but even more so as people age. Related to work, absolutely, but related to telehealth and related to social isolation. Social isolation is rampant in this country and equal to smoking 15 cigarettes a day. We've got to keep people connected, so broadband issues are really, really important.

Brian Lehrer: All right. Beth from Manhattan, state director of AARP, thank you for chiming in. Alec in the Bronx, you're on WNYC. Hi, Alec.

Alec: Hi. Good to hear you. My major concern for a long time has been climate change because to me that's the overriding issue that's going to affect everybody around the world. I wish they had done something about 10 years ago because we could have had, I think, a different effect. The other issue I think is disinformation, to me is a very important thing because it affects people's perception of what reality is, what they see as reality. Those two issues are the ones that are very important in my mind.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you, Alec. Climate and disinformation. Bob in Queens, you're on WNYC. Hi, Bob.

Bob: Good morning. I'm looking for rambunctious progressives who would zero in on two specific areas, education. I think with education, every kid who attends public school at some point should be required to visit a jail house, a court, a firehouse, a resting-- what's the term? Where poor people should be.

Brian Lehrer: I'm not sure. A shelter?

Bob: A shelter. I think every high school graduate should end up being a registered voter. Mass transit. I think mass transit in this city should be free of charge, fully functional on a 24-hour basis. This way you would probably eliminate crime, it would probably eliminate congestion in the streets, and it would probably be a much more effective methodology of moving people about.

Brian Lehrer: Bob, thank you so much for your call. Richard in Suffolk County, you're on WNYC. Hi, Richard.

Richard: Hey, how are you?

Brian Lehrer: Good.

Richard: Longtime listener. I'm a lawyer, just turned 70, three grandkids, and have witnessed the nightmare of American life over the last four years. As a lawyer, as a former professor of law, my big concern is restoring the integrity of government and having people realize that their statesmen left. I look out at the atmosphere and I see the conduct of the United States Congress, anything in the state legislature and I'm gasped.

My mother was a former chief Republican aide of the chair of the Ways and Means Committee in Albany. I grew up a lifelong Republican. I was active in Republican politics. I was a committeeman for a Republican and as soon as the Senate refused to consider the Merrick Garland nomination, I immediately abandoned the party because that's where the lawlessness began. What can we do to restore faith in the integrity of government? I'm slated to vote for every candidate who appears to be a statesman and is ready to do that.

Brian Lehrer: Richard, thank you very much. That threat to democracy is coming up all week long for whatever reason. Of course, it's such a small, unscientific sample. It doesn't mean anything. It came up less on our day taking calls from people in their 30s and 40s, but everyone else all across the age range, democracy, democracy, democracy. Richard, thank you very much. Laura in Fresh Meadows, you're on WNYC. Hi, Laura.

Laura: Hi, Brian. I love your show. Thank you so much for all that you do. My primary concern as the mother of two daughters and a granddaughter, a woman's right to choose is most important to me, but that's at the top of a very long list: Climate change, voting rights, the threat to our democracy. These are all very high on my list of things that really concern me. That's basically it. I know that there's a lot that I'm telling you, but these are very important to me.

Brian Lehrer: Pretty focused. A woman's right to choose and democracy. I hear you. Sharon in Queens, you're on WNYC. Hi, Sharon.

Sharon: Hi, I'm [unintelligible 00:10:38] I'm a Black woman. The people that built this city are sleeping on the couches of their children. We have multi-generational households because housing is so high. I live in a house with my granddaughter and my daughter. My daughter will never be able to afford a house with the rising cost of housing. Also, Medicare costs, health insurance costs, and also unions.

The only reason why I've held on to my house is because my father worked for transit and the union helped him get this house. I'm looking at people understanding that they're pricing our children out of this city and they're pricing the people that built this city to live on the couches of their children. It's ridiculous.

Brian Lehrer: Housing and you told our screener something about health insurance too?

Sharon: Cost of health insurance, Medicare costs. Medicare doesn't even cover teeth and eyes, so what are you doing? You have to have a supplemental plan, and also unions. People are trying to say no union. Unions help people acquire these houses that they're still living in. We have to make sure unions help people hold on to their economic autonomy.

Brian Lehrer: Sharon, thank you so much for your call. On the lower east side, as we're taking calls from people in your 70s and 80s in this segment on what issues matter most to you for the midterm elections, we've been going up the generations all week. Tomorrow it's people 90 and above, but for today, 70s and 80s. Anne, you're on WNYC. Hello. Anne, is that you? Do I have you? Maybe not. Maybe Anne got shy at the last minute. Joe in St. Albans, you're on WNYC. Hi, Joe.

Joe: Hi, good morning, Brian. 82 years old and I'm in favor of term limits. I think people like our Senator Schumer and the people that we were talking about this morning, once you get to a certain age, you shouldn't be there. We need young ideas in this country. I was very much impressed with Ocasio Cortez and her ilk. Not the socialism so much, but the young ideas and the way she presented herself.

Brian Lehrer: Joe, for term limits. Thank you very much. Paul in Teaneck, you're on WNYC. Hi, Paul.

Paul: Hi. Good morning, Brian. The biggest issue is the stranglehold that big money interests have on our politicians. That is the block to all of these other issues. Particularly the big issue, the existential issue, which is the change in the climate.

Brian Lehrer: Isn't it interesting how money in politics, you've lived long enough to see it, has risen and fallen as a central issue? It wasn't for the Republican party ever, but it has risen and fallen as a central issue for the Democratic party, it seems to me. Maybe it's because the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling a few years ago put a nail in that coffin politically. That was only for a part of it. [crosstalk]

Paul: Absolutely. Citizens United is a huge element of it. If people would wise up and elect more progressive politicians that do not take big money. That is the only wedge I see.

Brian Lehrer: Paul, thank you very much. John in Jackson Heights is going to get the last word. John, you have 30 seconds. Hi.

John: Yes, I'll take it. We've got to get rid of Trump. If we don't get rid of Trump, then we've got nothing else. Everybody said great things, but if you don't get rid of Trump, it's just not going to matter. [crosstalk]

Brian Lehrer: How do you do that in the midterm elections?

John: You do it simply by voting for Democratic people who believe in the ideas that everyone spoke about today. You start there. You just get rid of these Trump people, wherever they are. It's insane. It's like Nazi Germany. This is going in that direction.

Brian Lehrer: John, thank you very much with that apocalyptic view from someone in his 70s. That's The Brian Lehrer Show for today produced by Mary Croke, Lisa Allison, Amina Srna, and Carl Boisrond, and our interns this term, Emily Lowinger and Amanda Rozon. Megan Ryan is the head of live radio. I'm Brian Lehrer. Tomorrow, it's for those of you in your 90s or 100s.

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