Women Believe Economy Is Top Issue in 2008 Election

Days Before Super Tuesday, AARP and iVillage Take Women's Pulse on Key Issues
at 'How She Will Decide' Forum

GLENDALE, Calif., Feb. 1 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AARP, which is marking
its 50th Anniversary, and iVillage, the first and largest community of women
online, today hosted hundreds of engaged, diverse women for the groundbreaking
"How She Will Decide" forum, taking place just 4 days before Super Tuesday and
providing a real-time pulse check of the issues that will most affect this
year's presidential race.

Overwhelmingly, participants at the forum feel economic issues are the most
important factor guiding their decision on which candidate to support on
Election Day - with 54 percent of the audience members reporting that they do
not have a 401(k) or similar retirement savings account. This underscores the
findings of an iVillage fielded Roper poll conducted last week, which found
that over half of surveyed women cite "having enough money to live on" as
their biggest concern when thinking about financial security later in life.

Other issues that prove top-of-mind with women include healthcare (10
percent), the Iraq war (15 percent) and national/homeland security (12
percent).

"Women's issues will play an increasingly more important role in the elections
in the United States," said Nancy LeaMond, AARP Group Executive Officer and
Director of the Divided We Fail initiative. "With an election that is already
making history in terms of gender, the candidates are focusing on the issues
women maintain are most important. This poll shows that women are worried
about their financial security above a host of other issues."

In addition, the survey shows that 62 percent of surveyed women believe that
they will play a larger role than past years in deciding the 2008 election and
28 percent of female respondents say they have no idea for whom they will vote
in the 2008 presidential election.

"It's never been more important to understand what women think than right now,
and each day, we at iVillage see our community come together to discuss key
issues - like healthcare and the economy - that are so critical for all of
us," said Linda Boff, Chief Marketing Officer, iVillage. "Today's forum took
that dialogue and brought it into the larger conversation."

The interactive issues forum featured a diverse focus group of hundreds of
women and nationally recognized panelists, and marked the first of the 50th
Anniversary events for AARP. The telephone survey was conducted January
18-20, 2008 with 1,004 respondents nationwide, of which 524 were female.

Complete forum video will be posted later today at
http://video.ivillage.com/player/?fid=32464

About AARP:
AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan membership organization that helps people 50+
have independence, choice and control in ways that are beneficial and
affordable to them and society as a whole. AARP does not endorse candidates
for public office or make contributions to either political campaigns or
candidates. We produce AARP The Magazine, published bimonthly; AARP Bulletin,
our monthly newspaper; AARP Segunda Juventud, our bimonthly magazine in
Spanish and English; NRTA Live & Learn, our quarterly newsletter for 50+
educators; and our website, AARP.org. AARP Foundation is an affiliated charity
that provides security, protection, and empowerment to older persons in need
with support from thousands of volunteers, donors, and sponsors. We have
staffed offices in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and
the U.S. Virgin Islands.

About iVillage:
iVillage Inc., a division of NBC Universal, is the first and largest media
company dedicated exclusively to connecting women at every stage of their
lives. Ranked the #1 online destination for women with 29.9 million unique
visitors (comScore MediaMetrix), iVillage.com offers an authentic community
infused with compelling content from experts on health, parenting, pregnancy,
beauty, style, fitness, relationships, food and entertainment. The site's
interactive features include thousands of message boards and a wide variety of
social networking tools, allowing women around the world to connect, share
ideas, and seek advice and support about everything from fertility to fashion.

Established in 1995, iVillage's brand extensions include iVillage UK, iVillage
Total Health and owned sites Astrology.com, GardenWeb and gURL.com, in
addition to the Newborn Channel. The company, acquired by NBC Universal in May
2006, is based in New York.

SOURCE AARP

Alejandra Owens of AARP - National, +1-202-379-5134, asowens@aarp.org, Charee
Gillins of AARP - California, +1-626-585-2606, CGillins@aarp.org; or Amy
Zelvin of iVillage - NBC Universal, +1-201-735-3370, Amy.Zelvin@nbcuni.com