Older voters feel more confident in the future of Social Security if Joe Biden is elected compared to if President Trump is re-elected, according to a new survey.
The Retirement Confidence Index, released by fintech company Simplywise in September, revealed that 63 percent of Americans feel confident in the future of Social Security if the Democratic challenger wins, while 44 percent felt more confident if Donald Trump wins.
Among those that were aged 60 and over, the age demographic which propelled Trump to win in 2016, some 59 percent said they felt more confident in the future of Social Security under Biden, compared to 43 percent for Trump.
According to the data, which surveyed 1,154 Americans, the main reason for the perceived lack of confidence in Trump is due to his varying statements relating to the payroll tax and his recent actions.
On August 8 the president signed an executive order calling for a four-month deferral of the payroll tax for workers earning less than $4,000 per bi-weekly pay period in light of the ongoing pandemic.
The economic fallout from coronavirus has reduced tax collections for Social Security and Medicare.
Simplywise revealed that 86 percent of people, however, are concerned that the payroll tax deferral will hurt Social Security in the long run.
After the order was issued in August, Trump said at a press briefing that if he was successful on November 3, he plans to "forgive these taxes and make permanent cuts to the payroll tax. So I'm going to make them all permanent."
A few days later Trump said: "When I win the election, I'm going to go completely and totally forgive all deferred payroll taxes without in any way, shape or form hurting social security. That money is going to come from the general fund. We're not going to touch Social Security."
If Biden wins in November, he has detailed plans to improve the solvency of Social Security by increasing the payroll tax on high-wage earners.
The findings come as Social Security recipients are to get a modest 1.3 percent cost-of living-increase next year.
The increase amounts to $20 a month for the average retired worker, according to estimates by the Social Security Administration. That would follow a 1.6 percent rise this year in the cost-of-living adjustment, also known as COLA.
The COLA affects the finances of around a fifth of Americans, including Social Security recipients, disabled veterans and federal retirees, totalling approximately 70 million citizens.
