In the battleground state of Wisconsin, a new poll released Tuesday reveals bipartisan support for increased funding for staffing at nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, higher worker wages, and lower costs for such care.

In Wisconsin – where Donald Trump won by a razor-thin margin in 2016 over Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden also secured a small victory in 2020 – older voters could prove to be a consequential voting bloc in the upcoming election.

About 855,900 (27%) of registered voters are over the age of 65 in Wisconsin, according to the latest U.S. Census figures. Meanwhile, nationally, 42,918,935 (27%) of registered voters are over 65.

The poll conducted by Seniors for Care Wisconsin suggests that 86% of older adults believe that nursing home costs are unreasonable. About 65% of them oppose privatizing public nursing homes, seeing it as a threat to affordability, while 93% want higher wages for care workers, especially in rural areas.

Seniors for Care Wisconsin is backed by Addition, a national rural and working-class advocacy organization that supports keeping county-owned nursing homes public. The campaign is bipartisan, uniting citizens across the political spectrum, the organization said.

“It’s clear there’s broad bipartisan support for raising wages to attract and retain long-term care workers. This agreement underscores the urgency of addressing the staffing crisis affecting nursing homes nationwide,” George Goehl, the founder of Addition, told Skilled Nursing News in an emailed statement.

Moreover, local long-term care is a top priority for those polled, with 94% believing quality long-term care should be accessible in their own communities.

There was also strong bipartisan support for expanding Medicaid to make support for long-term care available to more seniors who need it, Goehl noted.

“Low wages are a key factor behind the closure of these nursing homes, which not only displaces vulnerable seniors but places additional burdens on families who must travel further and pay more to find care,” Goehl said.

The poll’s findings are based on a survey conducted from September 4 to September 10. It was carried out by Hart Research using phone and text-to-web methods, with a sample size of 800 likely voters in Wisconsin aged 55 and older. The survey included an oversample of residents from 23 predominantly rural and small-town counties that operate public nursing homes. The poll’s credibility interval is within 3.46 percentage points.