Social Security is one of the most searched issues this election, though you won’t hear either candidate talking about it as much as other hot-button issues such as inflation or abortion. Voters are concerned about the program’s survival since the trust fund is only set to be funded at 100% until 2033. After that, beneficiaries will see an immediate 21% deduction in their payments.
Any acknowledgement that something needs to change is met with avoidance from both sides — which experts say isn’t helping to address the problem, our Zach Halaschak reports.
“Harris and Trump have promised that there will be no changes to Social Security for its benefit level, which means essentially, both Harris and Trump have committed us to staying on the road to Social Security insolvency within a decade,” Brian Riedl, a budget expert at the conservative Manhattan Institute, told Zach.
There are many solutions, including raising the retirement age or reducing benefits, but none are easy to sell to voters. Former President Donald Trump has suggested cutting taxes on Social Security, which would only accelerate the problem by cutting into revenue collected.
Vice President Kamala Harris has not outlined her plan for Social Security, though she supported Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-VT) plan when she was a senator, which proposed expanding Social Security benefits and inflicting a payroll tax on earnings above $250,000 to pay for it. As vice president, she’s supported Biden’s more modest tax proposal on earnings above $400,000.
“The job of politicians is to confront hard truths, and it’s disappointing that Trump and Harris are just pandering to Americans who want to believe that Social Security can be fixed without any pain for them,” Riedl said.
Read more about the long road ahead of fixing Social Security.
Despite lackluster polling, Trump is in his best position yet
Before the 2016 election, Trump trailed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by 7 points. In 2020, Biden held an 8-point lead on Trump. In both cases, Trump defied polling, winning in 2016 and securing the most votes of a sitting president in 2020.
This time around, he’s neck and neck with Harris, a tighter race than he anticipated when he began his campaign against Biden. However, he’s closer in the polls now than he was at this point in his other two runs, making this his best shot at securing the popular vote, according to the Washington Examiner’s Emily Hallas.
Enthusiasm for Trump increasing among critical voting blocs could be another factor in getting him over the finish line. His popularity among white evangelicals went from 73% in 2016 to 82% this year, according to a Marist College poll released this month. He’s also increased in popularity with male voters by 7 points since 2020, according to New York Times polling, and boosted his support from black voters from 8% in 2020 to 15% now.
Trump and his campaign have also been sending him into nontraditional campaigning venues in an attempt to reach new voters. He recently discussed the effect drugs had on his older brother during a sit-down with comedian Theo Von. That came after doing an interview with Adin Ross on Kick, a platform popular for video game streaming. He’s also appeared on influencer and wrestler Logan Paul’s Impaulsive podcast and the All-In podcast, which focuses on tech topics, with four venture capitalists.
Read more about Trump’s positioning with only 43 days left until Election Day.
Biden’s claim to fame falls short
The Biden administration’s 2021 infrastructure bill has been lauded by Democrats as one of the most successful pieces of policy to come out of the presidency, but much of the projects have fallen short of expectations, our own Sarah Bedford reports.
A massive program to expand rural broadband access has failed so far to connect any homes to the internet. A push to electrify school bus fleets has proved costly and inefficient. And a multibillion-dollar effort to build thousands of electric vehicle charging stations across the country has so far yielded just a handful of stations.
Many progressive attachments to these plans hindered their implementation — things like equity requirements for contractors meant slow progress on building new houses.
“The evidence of these programs being a complete failure is that none of the recipients, grantees, have featured in a [Kamala] Harris commercial or onstage,” Daniel Turner, executive director at Power the Future, told Sarah. “If you received a benefit from the infrastructure bill or the Inflation Reduction Act, you would be front and center saying, ‘Thank you, madame vice president, for this program.’”
Read more about how a $7.5 million electric vehicle challenge, $42 billion broadband investment, and a $5 billion school bus boondoggle have left infrastructure promises unmet.
New from us
House Republicans drop SAVE Act in favor of clean stopgap spending bill in race against shutdown
Four campaign staff members for Mark Robinson resign following allegations
Democrats push back against Haitian ‘fearmongering’ allegations in new resolution
US officials urge peaceful solution but prepare for escalation in Israel-Hezbollah conflict
Abbott, Johnson argue Venezuelan gang highlights ‘major problems’ of Biden-Harris border policy
In case you missed it
GOP’s New Jersey Senate candidate has establishment backing but not Trump’s
Biden putting personal touch on Asia-Pacific diplomacy in his final months in office
Harris closing in on Trump’s lead with economic voters: Poll
For your radar
President Joe Biden will deliver remarks during a visit with Gotham FC to celebrate its National Women’s Soccer League championship at 10:30 a.m. He will then greet United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al Nahyan at 12:20 p.m. and host a bilateral meeting.
Vice President Kamala Harris will meet with Sheikh Mohamed at the White House at 2 p.m.
Former President Donald Trump will speak at the Protecting America Initiative in Pennsylvania on “the threat of communist China to US agriculture” this afternoon. Then, he’ll host a rally in Indiana, Pennsylvania, at 7 p.m.
Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) will be campaigning in North Carolina.
Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) will be campaigning in New York City.
The House Rules Committee will convene at 4 p.m. to take up bills including Johnson’s new government funding proposal and a resolution that would condemn Biden administration officials over handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal.