On November 5th at the corner of 56th Street and 2nd Avenue the polls look the same at 7 A.M. and 7 P.M. Campaign volunteers flier to uninterested and nonexistent crowds. People are more concerned with the Fall chill than the mayoral election. The polling places are alive because of one group: senior citizens.
An American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) survey stated that contrary to expectations, 75 percent of senior citizens 50 years and older were very to extremely likely to vote in the mayoral election. According to exit polls done by the Edison Research of Somerville, N.J. via the New York Times people 45 to 65 years of age and older made up 64 percent of voter turnout. The mayoral election was in the hand of the senior citizens.
“If there were 95 seniors in this area, 94 of them came out today,” said a campaign worker for Ben Kallos. “This has really been a senior election.”
