New National AARP Poll--Voters Oppose Chained CPI

Members of Congress Could Lose Older Voters by Backing Proposed Cut to Social Security, Vets Benefits—New National AARP Poll

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

 

Washington, DC –Today AARP released new national survey results that show 66 percent of older American voters, would be considerably less favorable to their member of Congress 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 84 percent of voters age 50+ oppose the highly unpopular idea of reducing Social Security benefits to reduce the deficit. AARP will also release a series of fourteen state specific surveys in the days ahead that could indicate how a vote for benefit cuts would impact a number of House and Senate races across the nation.

 

“This cut to Social Security would break the promise to seniors and hurt veterans who’ve sacrificed so much for this great country,” said AARP Executive Vice President Nancy LeaMond. “The chained CPI reduction snowballs over time and would increase taxes for most taxpayers - at the same time that it cuts benefits for children, veterans, widows, retirees, and people with disabilities.  As this survey shows, older Americans 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:

• 66% of voters 50+ would be less favorable towards their Member of Congress if they voted for a chained or superlative CPI (69% Democrats, 60% Republicans, 67% Independents).
• 78% of 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 (80% Democrats, 72% Republicans, 79% Independents).
• 87% of voters 50+ believe it’s very important that benefits are not reduced for today’s seniors.
  • 52% of voters 50+ oppose increasing taxes for most taxpayers by changing the way the tax code is adjusted for inflation through chained CPI (47% Democrats, 61% Republicans, 50% Independents). However, 13% 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.
  • 84% of voters 50+ oppose reducing Social Security benefits to reduce the deficit (91% Democrats, 80% Republicans, 78% Independents).
  • 84% of voters 50+ believe that the future of Social Security should be considered separately from the budget deficit discussions (85% Democrats, 83% Republicans, 82% Independents).

 

The results of the full survey can be found at www.aarp.org/colasurvey.  Woelfel Research, an independent research firm, conducted 801 interviews of registered voters age 50+ on March 19 and March 20, 2013.  This survey has a margin of sampling error of +/- 3.5%.

 

For more AARP resources and information on the impact of the chained CPI, please visit www.earnedasay.org.