(Alexandria, Va.) – American voters of all political stripes agree that President Biden should prioritize assisted living communities for COVID-19 relief and workforce solutions as caregivers for the nation’s seniors face daunting pandemic-related financial losses and staffing shortages.
The findings of a new national survey released by Argentum and conducted by ReconMR (Reconnaissance Market Research) show 86% of those asked said the Biden Administration should target COVID-19 relief funding for senior living communities, and four out of five (77%) believe the remaining $20 billion in the Provider Relief Fund for pandemic support should go to assisted living caregivers.
These numbers show an increase from an Argentum-commissioned poll from summer 2020, when 80% of voters agreed with a similar question about federal COVID-19 relief for assisted living communities.
“While a strong partisan divide exists across the United States on most major issues, such is not the case regarding funding for senior living communities,” the pollsters said.
On the more broad-brushed political questions in this survey such as presidential approval ratings and right track/wrong direction, evidence of the deep national political divide is present.
“However, when discussing senior living communities and the funding or relief assistance to these communities, support is often strong, bipartisan, and spread throughout all major demographics.”
ReconMR said respondents are also concerned about long-term outlook for senior living, covering such areas as worker/caregiver shortages and possible community closures resulting from costs of protecting residents from COVID-19 during the ongoing pandemic.
“With each new variant of COVID-19, America’s senior citizens and their caregivers face anew the challenges that confronted us all two years ago when this pandemic began,” said James Balda, president and CEO of Argentum.
“What this poll shows is rather startling,” he continued. “Americans overwhelmingly want action by policymakers in Washington, D.C., to target pandemic relief to those caring for the most vulnerable to the coronavirus and all of the emerging variants. Our residents have an average age of 85 and all need some level of assistance with daily life. To think their homes would be under threat is something this poll shows is unacceptable.”
Key highlights of the poll include:
- As with other questions regarding funding, 88% agree these communities should receive TARGETED funding in COVID-19 relief. Of the 88%, 44% strongly agree. Only 12% disagree these communities should be targeted.
- Nearly nine in 10 (86%) agree President Biden should prioritize COVID-19 funding for senior living communities while only 14% disagree. This includes 45% who STRONGLY agree and just 5% who STRONGLY disagree. Agreement is strong across the board with nearly 90% agreement among all age, racial, and gender categories.
- Nearly four in five (77%) agree President Biden should prioritize remaining COVID-19 funding for senior living communities and only 18% disagreed. This includes 41% who STRONGLY agree and just 9% who STRONGLY disagree.
- When asked, 89% of respondents say they are concerned about worker shortages at senior living communities caused by the pandemic. Moreover, 50% say they are VERY concerned. Concern is slightly higher among the more senior respondents than younger and middle-aged respondents. Those who have a loved one in a senior living community are also slightly more concerned than those who don’t.
- A 56% majority believe 1% of COVID-19 relief money allocated to senior living communities is not enough. The number of respondents who believe 1% is not enough funding dramatically increases with age.
- Respondents were asked how concerned they are that senior living communities may close as a result of funding shortages associated with COVID-19: 45% said they were very concerned, 42% somewhat concerned, 9% not very concerned, and 4% not at all concerned. Those who approve of the president’s job performance were more concerned about such closures than those who disapprove.
Read the executive summary of the poll results at tinyurl.com/yckjs92d. Raw data and charts from the poll are at tinyurl.com/2p8vd7ru.
Polling Methodology
The poll was conducted from November 12-17, 2021. The sample consisted of national Democratic, Republican, and Independent voters, n=1,000. Data was collected using online panelists from various panels to lessen panel bias and get a more random sample across multiple panels.
ReconMR specializes in multi-mode data collection for public opinion, public policy, social science, business-to-business, and consumer opinion research utilizing Online, CATI, and Mail interviewing. ReconMR has over than 25 years of experience delivering high quality, representative data armed with 700+ TCPA compliant U.S. CATI stations and 1,500+ trained interviewers and an Online panel-agnostic solution.
