Will Florida Seniors Accept Ryan’s Medicare Vision?

GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s choice of Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin as his running mate may help energize support from conservative voters who like his tough approach to overhauling the federal budget. But there’s a risk that Ryan may turn off an important voting bloc: senior citizens.

University of Central Florida political science professor Aubrey Jewett says the potency of Medicare as an election issue is an old story in Florida. Although President Obama carried the state in 2008, Jewett says his opponent, Sen. John McCain, won the senior vote.

“One of the reasons was that they worried about cuts in Medicare because of the Obama reform plan that he was proposing. And, you know, this time around the shoe is potentially on the other foot,” Jewett says.

While Obama and other Democrats attack their opponents for Ryan’s Medicare plan, Romney and Ryan are firing back. They’re accusing Obama of cutting Medicare himself to help pay for his health care plan.

To read the full story featuring UCF political scientists from NPR, please click here.