A Newsweek poll found that voters believe Democrats are better at protecting Social Security than Republicans. This is true even though the issue has not come up much in the election between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.
A poll done in October 2024 found that 50% of Americans are very worried about the future of their Social Security retirement benefits.
Another 40% say they are “fairly” or “slightly” concerned. The numbers have stayed the same every month that the subject has been polled on.
Social Security checks cuts for those born before this year will impact millions of Americans
America has been asked about the war in Ukraine, immigration, and abortion in Newsweek’s Tracker Poll for the past 16 months. This article is part of that poll. From July 2023 to October 2024, Redfield & Wilton Strategies did the poll only for Newsweek.
Each time, 1,500 to 2,500 likely voters were asked what they thought would be the most important issues in the 2024 election. Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) trust funds for the Social Security Administration are running low.
The SSA’s Office of the Inspector General has warned that benefits could be cut by 21% in 2034 if a solution is not found soon.
A study group called Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) said in September that a retired couple with a “medium income” who stop working in 2033 could lose up to $16,500 in Social Security benefits if the fiscal cliff is not fixed.
A single person with a medium income would lose about $12,400. Social Security checks make up about 40% of the average American retiree’s income.
Stephen Kates, a senior financial analyst for Retire Guide.com, told Newsweek that the expected 20 percent cut in payments will make it very hard for many retirees to keep living the way they do now if nothing is done to make up the difference.
The most recent poll, which was done in October, is similar to the steady stream of Social Security responses that Newsweek has been getting since February.
Also, 56% of people in Generation X, the generation that will retire after the baby boomers, are very worried about the possibility of Social Security benefits going down. 37% of people in Generation Z, which is the youngest group of adults, say they do not worry about their future retirement benefits.
While 53% of boomers and people born between 1928 and 1945 (known as the “silent generation”) were very worried about future entitlements, they were not as worried.
This should not come as a surprise since most of them have already retired and Social Security benefits can not be cut once they are paid.
But neither Trump nor Harris have made Social Security a big issue, and neither has come up with a clear plan to deal with the funding cliff that is coming up.
Polls showed that as of October, 44% of voters thought Democrats would be better at protecting Social Security, while 34% thought Republicans would be better.
There is a little more trust in the Democratic Party now than there was in February, when only 31% believed in the Republican Party.
What do Republicans and Democrats think about this issue?
Republicans do not like entitlements, which could mean that people look to the Democratic Party for good solutions. Baby Boomers and Gen Xers who are about to retire or already retired are comforted by the Democrats’ consistent stance on Social Security benefits.
People may look for Democratic solutions more often because of this. In spite of this, Stephen Kates was surprised that neither Trump nor Harris had taken a stronger stance on the issue, since Social Security could be cut in ten years if nothing is done.
Others are not as shocked, since raising taxes might be needed to fix the SSA’s financial problems, which some people do not like.
According to Newsweek, Tom Buckingham of Nassau Financial Group said that it is not surprising that Social Security has not been a bigger issue in the current presidential election.
This is because neither party wants to tell Americans what they will do to fix the real problems, which are higher taxes and/or lower benefits.
