(Bloomberg) -- Women over 50 favor President Joe Biden by four points head-to-head against Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, giving him a narrow edge among a group identified as crucial swing voters for the 2024 election, according to a new poll.

In an AARP survey of voters in 40 competitive House districts around the country, 48% of women over 50 backed Biden, while 44% backed former President Trump.

While men over 50 are solidly Republican and already likely to back Trump, women in that demographic are more split — making them an important group for campaigns to target, according to the pollsters.

“Candidates can’t afford to ignore the issues that matter to the 50-plus – who will likely be the decisive voting bloc in 2024,” said AARP Vice President Nancy LeaMond.

The poll found Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who trails Trump by a wide-margin in the GOP primary race according to RealClearPolitics’s average of polls, performing better with that bloc in a matchup with Biden. Head-to-head, both DeSantis and Biden received 46% support from women over 50.

In the poll, women of all ages cited inflation at 15%, democracy at 14% and abortion at 12% as their top issues.

Biden has been stepping up his economic messaging in recent weeks, crisscrossing the country to tout his agenda of Bidenomics and highlighting to voters his efforts to spur job growth and rein in unusually high inflation. Democrats have also sought to make abortion rights a central issue, seeing it as a key way to appeal to women voters, independents and young voters angered by new restrictions in Republican states.

Family Caregivers

The AARP survey highlighted an issue pollsters said was ignored but could be important in the 2024 elections — support for adults taking care of an elderly, ill or disabled relative. 

Pollsters found 38% of voters in the competitive districts they surveyed identified as current family caregivers, a diverse group that cut across race, gender, age, education and class lines. 

The group favored Trump over Biden by 50% to 42%.

“Caregiving and the cost of prescription drugs could very likely be the most important issues of the upcoming election cycle,” said LeaMond.

The AARP has begun airing a TV ad calling on Congress to help family caregivers — spending more than $150,000 in the Washington DC market over the past week, according to AdImpact. A March report from AARP estimated unpaid family caregivers provided $600 billion worth of care in 2021.

Biden signed an executive order in April that provides more support for family caregivers, but it was funded through existing initiatives and regularly touts his administration’s efforts to reduce the cost of hearing aids and cap the price of insulin at $35 a month for seniors on Medicare.

Trump signed a bipartisan bill in 2018 that directed the Department of Health and Human Services to develop a national strategy for caregivers and created an advisory council on the issue.

The AARP poll of 1,752 likely general election voters in 40 House districts rated as “lean” or “toss up” by the Cook Political Report was conducted July 5-11. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.83 points.

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