Reagan Institute Poll Shows Split Over Social Security Trust Fund Depletion
Americans are split over how to handle social security trust fund depletion, with the Reagan Institute’s new survey finding strong opposition to the main ways to close Social Security’s shortfall. The program is projected to become insolvent in 2032, when it can no longer pay full benefits and automatic cuts would begin.
Dan Rothschild on two camps
Dan Rothschild, director of the Center for Civics, Education, and Opportunity at the Reagan Institute, said the divide runs between voters who want action and those who want to defer the problem. “Americans fall into two different camps: those who want to do something about it and those who want to push this off to the next generation,” he said in an interview with FOX Business.
The Reagan National Economic Survey asked voters how they think Social Security’s shortfall should be closed. Payroll taxes on current workers and their employers are the program’s primary funding source, and the poll tested what people would accept if that financing proved insufficient.
Worker taxes and benefit cuts
Raising taxes on workers drew opposition from 80% of voters. Reducing Social Security benefits was opposed by 90% of registered voters, the broadest rejection of any option in the survey.
Borrowing money and adding to the national debt was favored by 24% of voters and opposed by 76%. Raising the retirement age drew support from 26% of registered voters, with 74% opposed.
Age and party splits
Support for a higher retirement age varied by political affiliation and age. Among Republicans, 31% supported raising the retirement age, compared with 25% of Independents and 21% of Democrats.
Younger and older voters were closer on that question than on benefit cuts. Among 18-to-29-year-olds, 30% backed a higher retirement age, while 33% of people age 65 and up did the same. Only 22% of 18-to-29-year-olds supported reducing Social Security benefits.
The immediate issue for lawmakers is not whether Social Security needs more money, but which financing fix voters will accept. The survey suggests payroll-tax increases and benefit cuts face the steepest resistance, leaving retirement-age changes as the most workable of the tested options.
