42% of Americans say Social Security is their top financial priority heading into the 2024 election. Here’s what Harris and Trump both had to say on the subject.

Some say the 2024 presidential race is more about vibes than issues. Maybe that’s true. Even if that’s the case, though, that doesn’t mean there aren’t issues that matter to many Americans.

The Motley Fool Ascent polled 2,000 Americans in July to determine their top financial priorities in the presidential election. One issue came out on top for many survey respondents: Social Security.

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Social Security on their minds

Survey respondents were allowed to select up to three answers when asked about their top financial priorities in the 2024 presidential election. Inflation was the no. 1, with 60% of respondents citing it as the top issue.

Social Security ranked second overall. Forty-two percent of Americans saw the federal program as a top financial priority.

As you might expect, however, older Americans ranked Social Security higher than younger respondents. Seventy percent of baby boomers (people born between 1946 and 1964) chose Social Security as their top financial priority, making it the No. 1 issue for this generation.

Forty-seven percent of Gen X respondents (born between 1965 and 1980) chose Social Security as their top issue in the election. However, only 16 percent of Gen Z (those born between 1997 and 2012) and 29 percent of Millennials (those born between 1981 and 1996) chose Social Security as a key financial priority.

Harris vs. Trump

What do the two major presidential candidates think about Social Security? Neither Kamala Harris nor Donald Trump have revealed a detailed plan for the program. However, they both talked about Social Security.

On August 14, 2024, Harris posted on Meta platforms‘ (META -0.74%) Facebook:

The Harris campaign has not said what changes she would make to Social Security if she wins in November. However, the Democratic Party’s 2024 platform calls for “requiring the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share” to support the program.

Harris supported President Biden’s proposal to raise the cap on payroll taxes that help fund Social Security to include earnings over $400,000. As a U.S. senator, she co-sponsored legislation that proposed increasing benefits and changing the way Social Security cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) are made to better reflect costs for seniors.

On July 31, 2024, Trump posted on Trump Media & Technology Grouphis (DJT 0.48%) Social Truth, “Seniors Shouldn’t Pay Social Security Tax!” However, he said he does not want to make any changes to Social Security itself.

At a town hall hosted by Fox News on December 5, 2023, Trump said, “You don’t have to touch Social Security. We have far more money in the ground than anything we can do by hurting senior citizens on welfare. Security.” He suggested the US could use oil and gas supplies to fund Social Security, adding: “It will take care of everything.”

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Any proposal about social security has consequences. This is true regardless of which candidate is advocating the changes.

The Social Security Administration estimates that subjecting all income over $400,000 to the payroll tax would eliminate 64 percent of Social Security’s long-term deficit. However, this analysis did not include any benefit increases that Harris has argued for in the past.

The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates that Trump’s plan to eliminate taxes on Social Security benefits would push the date on which Social Security trust funds run out by more than a year. The organization also looked at the former president’s idea of ​​using oil and gas drilling to fund the program and concluded: “(D)edicating current oil and gas leasing revenue to Social Security would cover less than 4 percent of the deficit his and it would be impossible. to fix Social Security even if all federal lands were opened to drilling operations”.

One thing is certain: doing nothing about Social Security is not a good idea. Based on the latest projections from Social Security administrators, the program will become insolvent by 2035 if no changes are made. After this point, the benefits should be significantly reduced.

The clock is ticking until the November election — and until Social Security’s trust funds run out of money.