Delaware Voters 50+ Oppose the Chained CPI

On April 8, AARP Delaware released new survey results that show 71% percent of older Delaware 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 86% percent of Delaware voters age 50+ also oppose the highly unpopular idea of 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 Delaware seniors and hurt veterans who’ve sacrificed so much for this great country,” said AARP Delaware State Director Lucretia Young. “The chained CPI reduction snowballs over time and would increase taxes for most Delaware taxpayers - at the same time that it cuts benefits for children, veterans, widows, retirees, and people with disabilities.  As this survey shows, older Delawareans 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:

• 71% of Delaware voters 50+ would be less favorable towards their Member of Congress if they voted for a chained or superlative CPI (76% Democrats, 65% Republicans, 71% Independents).  
• 80% of Delaware 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 (82% Democrats, 80% Republicans, 78% Independents).
• 86% of Delaware voters 50+ believe it’s very important that benefits are not reduced for today’s seniors.
  • 48% of Delaware voters 50+ oppose increasing taxes for most taxpayers by changing the way the tax code is adjusted for inflation through chained CPI (45% Democrats, 49% Republicans, 51% Independents). However, 14% said they do not know if they support or oppose this, indicating there is little public understanding of how the chained CPI would affect a person’s taxes.   
  • 86% of Delaware voters 50+ oppose reducing Social Security benefits to reduce the deficit (93% Democrats, 78% Republicans, 84% Independents). 73% strongly oppose.
  • 84% of Delaware voters 50+ believe that the future of Social Security should be considered separately from the budget deficit discussions (90% Democrats, 80% Republicans, 81% Independents). 

 The results of the full survey can be found here. Woelfel Research, an independent research firm, conducted 802 interviews of registered voters age 50+ between March 21 and April 2, 2013.  This survey has a margin of sampling error of +/- 3.5%.

 For more AARP Delaware resources and information on the impact of the chained CPI, please visit earnedasay.org or http://http://www.aarp.org/content/dam/aarp/research/surveys_statistics/general/2013/Delaware-CPI-Survey-AARP-rsa-gen.pdf