Republicans are trying to present their anti-Social Security plots as “saving” Social Security, attempting to cast the GOP as the party that really cares about the future of the program. They’re also trying to reassure the people they count as their base—i.e. older voters—that they won’t feel any of the pain from the “reforms” they are suggesting. This is an admission that what they’re talking about is cuts—just cuts that older voters won’t have to worry about. When Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan were trying to take the White House, they used a similar ploy, insisting that nothing they were proposing would affect current retirees, only people who were then in their early 50s.
The Demand Progress poll is by no means an outlier. As Kerry Eleveld reported last week, a recent Fox News poll showed the same support for the program just as it is. In fact, a whopping 82% of respondents in that poll are opposed to raising the retirement age. Overall support for the program has grown in the past decade, according to Fox News polling, with 71% agreeing that it is more important to fund the program with no changes than to reduce the deficit (26%).
“When Fox asked the question in 2013, just 54% said ‘keep the programs untouched,’ while 40% prioritized reducing the federal deficit,” Eleveld wrote. “That’s a net turnaround of roughly 60 points in the last decade toward the position that Democrats hold on continuing to fully fund the programs.”
The GOP’s basic premise—that they can keep pushing these cuts and minimize damage to their electoral prospects by just picking on the kids—is obviously wrong. But if they want to motivate more young people to vote, well, they should go right ahead with these plans.
Young voters have already chosen their side: the Democrats. From abortion to gun safety to student loans, Republicans are digging their demographic hole ever deeper.
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