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Members of Congress and Senators Could Lose Older Voters by Backing Proposed Cut to Social Security According to New AARP North Carolina Poll

Questionnaire Template4_Revised_v3_North Carolina (3)
NC Voters 50+ Oppose the Chained CPI, Believe Social Security Should Not Be Cut to Reduce the Deficit

 

RALEIGH –AARP North Carolina released new survey results that found 64 percent of older Tarheel voters would be considerably less favorable to their member of Congress or Senator if he or she voted for a "chained" or "superlative" consumer price index (CPI) proposal included the President’s budget proposal.  This proposal recalculates Social Security cost-of-living adjustments and reduces the benefits people get back from the program they paid for through a lifetime of earnings.

The AARP survey shows that 89 percent of North Carolina voters age 50+ also oppose the highly unpopular of idea of cutting 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 North Carolina seniors and hurt veterans who’ve sacrificed so much for this great country,” said AARP State Director Doug Dickerson.  “This is a cut in upcoming payments to veterans and Social Security recipients. The chained CPI reduction snowballs over time and would increase taxes by revising tax brackets for most NC taxpayers, at the same time it cuts benefits for children, veterans, widows, retirees, and people with disabilities.”

Results form the survey on chained CPI include:

  • 64% of NC voters 50+ would be less favorable towards their Member of Congress if they voted for a chained or superlative CPI (67% Democrats, 68% Republicans, 61% Independents).
  • 77% of NC 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, 77% Independents).
  • 89% of NC voters 50+ believe it’s very important that benefits are not reduced for today’s seniors.
    • 56% of NC voters 50+ oppose increasing taxes for most taxpayers by changing the way the tax code is adjusted for inflation through chained CPI (49% Democrats, 63% Republicans, 57% 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.
    • 84% voters 50+ oppose reducing Social Security benefits to reduce the deficit (88% Democrats, 83% Republicans, 84% Independents).
    • 85% of voters 50+ believe that the future of Social Security should be considered separately from the budget deficit discussions (92% Democrats, 81% Republicans, 83% Independents).

The survey was conducted by Woelfel Research, an independent research firm, with 803 interviews of registered voters age 50+ on March 29-30.  This survey has a margin of sampling error of +/- 3.5%. More information can be found here:   https://access.aarp.org/work/social-security/info-03-2013/,DanaInfo=.awxyCefxwHx1r+social-security-cola-chained-cpi.html.

For more AARP North Carolina resources and information on the impact of the chained CPI, please visit www.earnedasay.org or www.aarp.org/nc.

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