USA: Boomers are heading to Portugal, Spain and Italy

For many years, older Americans have looked south to Florida in search of the perfect retirement home to retire after four decades of working in the United States, according to Wealth.

But wealthy citizens are increasingly considering life across the Atlantic, where the unattractive showdown between Joe Biden and Donald Trump is prompting them to leave.

“My country has become intolerant.”

David, a 65-year-old lawyer from Chicago, is going to Portugal on an exploratory trip next month with a budget of $500,000 in hopes of finding a new second home on the Silver Coast, between Lisbon and Porto.

The lawyer, who requested anonymity due to fears of harassment, said the political climate had become so toxic that it had prompted a search for peace across the Atlantic.

As the grandson of four immigrants who arrived at Ellis Island, David was particularly troubled by the debate in the United States over immigration.

“My country has become intolerant,” says David.

“This country has always turned away people who are not like them. So we see these images of people south of the border, and they are just people, but both sides are using them for political reasons, and this is just an example of complete bigotry, which is sad.”

The lawyer also moves to escape the imminent threat of gun violence.

“I told my wife about 15 years ago that I had accepted the fact that I could be killed at any time in this country,” David said.

David hopes to conclude a deal before the US elections in November because he believes that if Trump gets a second term as president, demand for homes abroad could rise.

Americans rush abroad

The lawyer won't be going on a scouting trip for himself just next month. He and his wife plan to provide sites and properties to five other friends.

David and his friend's politically motivated decision to begin separating from their homeland is not unusual, according to Kaylee Adamek, a real estate consultant at Casa Azul, who is advising David and other Americans on their moves.

“People are not so much worried about the tax situation, they are more worried about what will happen in the United States in the next couple of months. In November, with the election, people just want to have choices,” Adamek told Fortune.

Last week, Donald Trump and Joe Biden were confirmed as the respectively Republican and Democratic nominees for President of the United States in their 2020 rematch.

Poisoning

If this year's fight is anything like last year's, voters can expect an incredibly toxic election battle, something Adamec's agents are well aware of.

“From what I can see, this is something that's happening for the first time in terms of determining elections and it's actually a deciding factor in whether or not someone moves abroad, whether it's full-time or part-time.”

Adamic says it's a mix of American buyers looking for real estate options in Portugal, but they're more left-leaning.

According to Marco Permonian, you can get a good idea of ​​political instability in the United States just by monitoring how many people are applying for Italian passports through his company, Italian Citizenship Assistance (ICA), at any given time.

Investigations began to increase in 2016 after Trump was elected to the White House. They did so again in 2020 in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the instability sparked by the protests and riots that followed the killing of George Floyd, as well as the overturn of Roe v. Wade.

As the United States prepares for a second harrowing confrontation between Trump and Biden, it is not surprising that the International Criminal Court has seen investigations triple since late last year.

Turn right

In Portugal, there are fears that the rise of right-wing parties in the country's parliament will intensify harmful anti-immigrant rhetoric, imitating the kind of polarization that has become common in the United States.

In Italy, the ruling far-right party has made sweeping changes to the country's cultural landscape and cracked down on immigration.

However, Casa Azul's Adamic said that while he expects inquiries about residency in Portugal to decline after the Golden Visa program closes, applications have remained steady, perhaps due to the US election.

As for the political toxicity that Europe is suffering from, David does not feel the concern raised by the events in the United States.

“They're all like Trump's kids, so I wouldn't worry about that,” David says of Europe's bubbling political cauldron.

“Portugal has always been a fairly liberal place. I'm not overly concerned.”