Coloradans 50+ oppose Social Security cuts

AARP Colorado released new survey results that show 68 percent of older Colorado voters would be considerably less favorable to their member of Congress or Senator if the member voted for a chained or superlative CPI proposal, expected to be in the President’s budget proposal this week. The survey shows that 81 percent of Colorado voters age 50+ also oppose the highly unpopular idea of reducing Social Security benefits to reduce the deficit. AARP also released a national survey that could indicate how a vote for benefit cuts could impact House and Senate races across the nation.

“This cut to Social Security would break the promise to Colorado seniors and hurt veterans who’ve sacrificed so much for this great country,” said AARP Colorado State Director Morie Smile. “The chained CPI reduction snowballs over time and would increase taxes for most Colorado taxpayers – at the same time that it cuts benefits for children, veterans, widows, retirees, and people with disabilities. As this survey shows, older Coloradans oppose the chained CPI and they’ve historically made their opinions known to their elected officials.”

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

• 68 percent of Colorado voters 50+ would be less favorable towards their Member of Congress if they voted for a chained or superlative CPI (68 percent Democrats, 69 percent Republicans, 69% Independents).
• 77 percent of Colorado 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 75 percent Democrats, 63 percent Republicans, 63 percent Independents).
• 82 percent of Colorado voters 50+ believe it’s very important that benefits are not reduced for today’s seniors.
  • 50 percent of Colorado voters 50+ oppose increasing taxes for most taxpayers by changing the way the tax code is adjusted for inflation through chained CPI (41 percent Democrats, 60 percent Republicans, 48 percent Independents).
  • 81 percent of Colorado voters 50+ oppose reducing Social Security benefits to reduce the deficit (91 percent Democrats, 76 percent Republicans, 81 percent Independents).
  • 79 percent of Colorado voters 50+ believe that the future of Social Security should be considered separately from the budget deficit discussions (91 percent Democrats, 76 percent Republicans, 78 percent Independents).

The results of the full survey can be found here. Woelfel Research, an independent research firm, conducted 800 interviews of registered Colorado voters age 50+ March 21 through March 28, 2013.  This survey has a margin of sampling error of +/- 3.5 percent.

For more AARP Colorado resources and information on the impact of the chained CPI, please visit earnedasay.org or aarp.org/co.