Yahoo Finance Should Social Security Decide Your Vote? Key Points for Retirees on Trump vs. Biden
The 2024 presidential election has no shortage of pressing issues to focus on, from U.S. policy regarding foreign wars to how best to bolster the economy and combat high prices. Social Security doesn’t get as many headlines right now, but it remains a key issue — especially for Americans at or nearing retirement age. President Joe Biden and ex-President Donald Trump both say they will protect Social Security, though many voters want more detail on how.
Much of the debate about Social Security centers on its uncertain future. The program’s Old Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund is expected to run out of money within the next decade, leaving Social Security solely dependent on payroll taxes. Those taxes currently cover only about 77% of benefits.
Beyond that, there is general dissatisfaction about how effective current Social Security payments are at paying the bills. A survey conducted last year by public interest law firm Atticus found that nearly two-thirds of Social Security recipients are dissatisfied with the 3.2% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for 2024.
That dissatisfaction has not eased much this year. According to Atticus’s more recent survey, 2024 COLA: Impact and Outlook Among Beneficiaries, released in March, more than 70% of Americans receiving Social Security disability benefits think the 2024 COLA is too low. Four in 10 respondents said they have experienced negative financial impacts due to the 2024 COLA, and nearly 60% have had to decrease their spending
This year’s COLA is well down from the 8.7% adjustment in 2023, and the COLA for 2025 could inch even lower. The Senior Citizens League, a nonpartisan seniors advocacy group, projects a 2.6% COLA in 2025 based on the latest inflation data.
Meanwhile, more than 80% of respondents in the March Atticus survey are concerned about how the outcome of the presidential election will affect their future Social Security benefits. Three-quarters plan to vote for a candidate based on how their policies might affect their benefits.
If Biden or Trump is true to his word, Social Security beneficiaries don’t have to worry about their benefits being cut. Biden has promised to bolster the program if he wins reelection in November. Trump has said he has no plans to touch Social Security if he returns to the White House.
Biden has proposed a 4-point plan that would mostly impact high earners who can depend on their retirement savings to get by. The plan includes the following:
Tax earned income above $400,000, leaving wages between $160,200 and $400,000 untaxed. In 2024, any wages above $168,600 are not taxed, up from $160,200 in 2023.
Change the calculation for determining annual Social Security COLAs so they are no longer based on the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). Biden favors basing the COLA on the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E).
Raise the Primary Insurance Amount (PIA) age that determines how much money you’ll receive in Social Security benefits.
Raise the special minimum benefit for lifetime lower-wage workers to 125% of the federal poverty level for Social Security beneficiaries.
But these and other reforms Biden has proposed haven’t been included in budgets sent to Congress, where they would likely face opposition from most Republicans and even some Democrats.
As for Trump: Last year, the ex-president said that “under no circumstances should Republicans vote to cut a single penny from Medicare or Social Security.” The Trump campaign also blasted former GOP presidential rival Nikki Haley for indicating she might raise the Social Security full retirement age for younger workers.
What Trump hasn’t done is unveil any concrete policy proposals about how to deal with the looming trust fund shortfall. As president, he left Social Security benefits and eligibility requirements alone, but he did propose cuts to Social Security and Medicare that aimed to scale back their administrative costs without specifically reducing benefits. And his campaign has not offered specific proposals to address the OASI’s coming insolvency.
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