Voters More Likely Than Not to Think Republicans Will Try for Medicare, Social Security Cuts

As GOP lawmakers implore President Joe Biden to stop claiming that Republicans are seeking to slash Social Security and Medicare amid debt ceiling negotiations, a new Morning Consult/Politico survey finds that nearly half of registered voters (46%) think the party will try to cut funding for the programs, though just 8% believe such an attempt would be successful and 38% think it would fail.

Voters mostly following their party’s claims on Social Security and Medicare cuts

• Democratic voters (69%) are substantially more likely than Republicans (21%) to think the GOP will make efforts to cut the popular retirement programs.
• Republican voters (62%) are most likely to say they trust GOP messaging that cuts to the entitlement programs are off the table. 
• Older voters are least likely to say they think Republicans will go after Social Security and Medicare: 38% of baby boomers believe the GOP will seek cuts to the programs, compared with 49% of Gen Xers, 52% of millennials and 56% of Gen Zers.

GOP tries to snuff out concerns about Medicare and Social Security cuts, but budget plans still under debate

In his Feb. 7 State of the Union address, Biden pushed lawmakers to pass a clean increase of the federal borrowing limit. He then said that some members of the Republican party would like to sunset Social Security and Medicare in order to achieve the federal spending cuts that the GOP has vowed to require in order to agree to raising the federal debt limit. 

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has since said that cuts to those programs are “off the table.” GOP leaders are still debating what cuts they do plan to propose, though Republicans have characterized the early talks as “positive” so far. 

The latest Morning Consult/Politico survey was conducted Feb. 10-12, 2023, among a representative sample of 2,005 registered voters, with an unweighted margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.