59% don’t think Trump will save Social Security, new poll finds
Results of Ipsos/ USA TODAY survey largely split along party lines
Most older Americans don’t trust President Trump or Congress to safeguard Social Security and Medicare, but about half say the administration’s policies will promote economic growth, according to an Ipsos/ USA TODAY survey.
The results largely split along party lines, with most Republicans remaining confident in the president and the vast majority of Democrats voicing doubts. But independents, who tipped the 2016 election to Trump, also are skeptics. And the tally appears to point to some erosion in support for Trump’s agenda among older Americans, a majority of whom backed the president in November.
The online poll of 1,170 adults ages 45 to 65 was conducted Aug. 30-Sept. 5.
Fifty-nine percent of those surveyed don’t trust the Trump administration to protect Social Security and Medicare, which face insolvency by 2034, and just 22% say the programs are more secure now than they were a year ago.
While only 21% of Democrats and 28% of independents say they trust the White House to shield the entitlements, 57% of Republicans hold that view. Still, 77% of Democrats, 60% of Republicans and 72% of independents don’t think the programs are more secure now than they were a year ago.
Even fewer older Americans have faith in the Republicanmajority Congress. Seventypercent of the 45- to 65-yearolds don’t trust the lawmakers to preserve Social Security and Medicare, including 74% of Democrats, 62% of Republicans and 78% of independents.
The survey respondents have a more bullish view of Trump’s plan to bolster economic growth, which features tax cuts, more infrastructure spending and a tougher approach with foreign countries on trade in a
bid to reclaim outsourced manufacturing jobs. Forty-nine percent of those surveyed say the administration will promote economic growth, vs. 46% who disagree. Eighty-two percent of Republicans are in the optimistic camp compared with 25% of Democrats and 34% of independents.
Betsy Graboyes, 62, a Democrat, doesn’t believe Trump’s plan, unveiled last week, to slash taxes by an estimated $5.8 trillion will juice the economy.
“He wants to cut taxes for the rich, not the middle class,” says the retired special education teacher who lives in Martinsville, Va. Graboyes believes neither Trump nor Congress will safeguard Social Security.
But Mattie Beals, 56, of Van Buren, Ark., thinks the president and members of Congress will figure out a way to save the program. “I just think that sometimes people panic,” says Beals, a Republican who works as a customer service representative for a financial firm. “I trust them because I think they know that when you get older, you need your Social Security.”
On the campaign trail, Trump pledged to “save Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security without cuts … Have to do it … People have been paying in for years.”
White House officials weighed reductions to the programs in the president’s proposed budget earlier this year, but those programs were ultimately untouched.
Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, says Trump’s promises “sound very reassuring … but it’s actually jeopardizing the programs” by avoiding taking the steps to head off insolvency before the shortfalls continue to widen.
An estimated 10,000 Baby Boomers are retiring each day, adding to the cost burden on the entitlements, and comparatively fewer Millennials are joining the workforce and paying into the system.
As a result, the Medicare trust fund is projected to become insolvent — with costs exceeding assets — in 2029, and Social Security is expected to reach that state in 2034, unless steps are taken to close the deficits.