AARP Survey: Florida Voters 50+ Oppose the Chained CPI

Florida Voters 50+ Oppose the Chained CPI, Believe Social Security Should Not Be Cut to Reduce the Deficit

St. Petersburg, Fla. –Today AARP Florida released FLORIDA CPI Surveyresults that show 71 percent of older Florida voters, including strong majorities across party lines, would be less favorable to their member of Congress or Senator if the member voted for a chained or superlative CPI proposal, expected to be included in President Obama’s budget proposal this week.  The survey also shows that 75 percent of Florida voters age 50+ oppose the Chained CPI plan to reduce Social Security benefits to reduce the deficit, while 81 percent oppose reducing retired and disabled veterans’ benefits to reduce the deficit.

“This proposed cut to Social Security represents a broken promise,” said Jeff Johnson, AARP’s Florida state director.  “The chained CPI reduction snowballs over time, cutting benefits by billions of dollars over the next 10 years for Florida children, veterans, widows, retirees, and people with disabilities.  As this survey shows, older Floridians overwhelmingly oppose the chained CPI.  And history shows they turn out to vote in large numbers.”

Results in the survey on the impact of chained CPI include:

• 71 percent of Florida voters 50+ would be less favorable towards their member of Congress if they voted for a chained or superlative CPI (68 percent of Republicans surveyed, 72 percent independents and 74 percent Democrats).
• 81 percent of Florida voters 50+ oppose reducing the annual benefit increase retired and disabled veterans receive by changing the way the cost of living increase is calculated for veterans’ benefits (76 percent of Republican surveyed, 83 percent of independents and 83 percent of Democrats).
• 88 percent of Florida voters 50+ believe it’s very important that benefits are not reduced for today’s seniors.
  • About half of Florida voters 50+ oppose increasing taxes for most taxpayers by changing the way the tax code is adjusted for inflation through chained CPI (54 percent of Republicans surveyed, 47 percent of independents and 44 percent of Democrats). However, 14 percent said they do not know if they support or oppose this, indicating there is little public understanding of how the chained CPI would raise a person’s taxes.
  • 84 percent of Florida voters 50+ oppose reducing Social Security benefits to reduce the deficit (79 percent of Republicans surveyed, 79 percent of independents, 94 percent of Democrats).
  • 84 percent of Florida voters 50+ believe that the future of Social Security should be considered separately from budget deficit discussions (81 percent of Republicans surveyed, 79 percent of independents and 92 percent of Democrats).

The results of the full survey can be found here aarp.org/colasurvey.  Woelfel Research, an independent research firm, conducted 806 interviews of registered Florida voters age 50+ on March 22 and 26.  This survey has a margin of sampling error of +/- 3.5 percent.

For more AARP Florida resources and information on the impact of the Chained CPI, please visit www.earnedasay.org or www.aarp.org/fl .  For a summary of how the Chained CPI would reduce your benefits, please visit www.earnedasay.org/whatyoulose .