Americans are deeply split on how to keep Social Security afloat as the program heads toward insolvency in 2032, and a new Reagan Institute poll found no reform idea drawing anything close to broad support. The survey found overwhelming opposition to higher taxes, benefit cuts, borrowing and a higher retirement age, even as the deadline for automatic benefit cuts comes into view.
The Ronald Reagan Institute's Reagan National Economic Survey, reviewed by FOX Business, asked registered voters how Social Security's shortfall should be closed. Higher taxes on workers drew opposition from 80% of voters. Cutting benefits was rejected by 90%. Borrowing money and adding to the national debt was opposed by 76%, while 74% opposed raising the retirement age. On each option, a majority said no.
That is the problem Social Security now faces. When the program can no longer pay full benefits in 2032, benefits are projected to be cut automatically unless Congress acts. Payroll taxes on current workers and their employers remain the system's main source of funding, but the poll suggests Americans have not settled on a politically usable way to close the gap.
Dan Rothschild, who discussed the results, said Americans appear to divide into two camps: those who want to act now and those who want to hand the problem to the next generation. The numbers back up that split, but they also show something more awkward for lawmakers — there is no single repair plan that voters seem ready to embrace.
Support for raising the retirement age was modestly higher than for the other options, at 26%, but it still drew opposition from 74% of registered voters. Younger adults were not eager for benefit cuts either, with 22% of those ages 18 to 29 in favor and 78% opposed. Even on the retirement age, support only reached 30% among that younger group, while it rose to 33% among voters 65 and older. Republicans were slightly more open to the idea than other groups, at 31%, compared with 25% of Independents and 21% of Democrats.
That leaves Washington with a deadline and no obvious mandate. The poll, described as a nonprobability-based survey, shows voters understand the problem but recoil from every fix tested. The next real question is not whether Social Security needs a solution; it is which party will be willing to sell one that most voters already dislike.
