Statement from EMILY’s List on the 77th Anniversary of Social Security: Democrats Will Defend the Program Women Rely On

WASHINGTON – Today marks the 77th anniversary of Social Security, a program relied on by 21,581,154 women across the country.

“Social security is one of America’s greatest promises,” said Stephanie Schriock, President of EMILY’s List. “Women all over the country have earned those benefits and rely on them throughout retirement. EMILY’s List is proud of the role our Democratic women in Congress have played in protecting this critical program, and it’s shocking that after such success, Republicans are trying to dismantle it. From cradle to grave, Republicans are waging a war on the services that American women need to take care of themselves and their families. That’s why women voters are going to support Democrats, and in particular our Democratic women candidates who have traditionally been the champions of vital programs like social security.”

EMILY’s List commissioned a poll of independent women in battleground states and found that Republican proposals to cut social security while giving tax breaks to millionaires were deeply unpopular – including among younger women far from retirement age who are well-educated about what a future with diminished social security would mean for them.

• Republicans have proposed reducing Social Security benefits, raising the retirement age, and even endorsed a plan to make deep cuts to Medicare—raising costs for seniors across America by replacing Medicare with a voucher program. Meanwhile, they support giving huge tax breaks to millionaires and big corporations.

o   65% of independent women found this a convincing reason to vote against Republicans running for Congress.

These findings were the result of telephone surveys conducted by professional interviewers that reached out to 950 likely independent female voters across 13 EMILY’s List battleground states:  Arizona (where 427,737 women rely on social security), Nevada (156,337), New Mexico (135,781), Connecticut (270,933), Massachusetts (470,498), Wisconsin (431,948), Minnesota (368,485), Iowa (249,276), Missouri (449,194), Ohio (853,508), Michigan (753,776), Pennsylvania (1,071,716), and Florida (1,569,565).

The poll was conducted June 6-11, 2012, and the margin of error is plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.

In the 2009-2010 cycle, EMILY's List raised more than $38.5 million to support its mission of recruiting and supporting women candidates, helping them build strong campaigns, and mobilizing women voters to turn out and vote. With a community of more than 1,500,000 members across the country, EMILY's List is one of the largest political action committees in the nation. Since its founding in 1985, EMILY's List has worked to elect 87 pro-choice, Democratic women to the U.S. House, 16 to the U.S. Senate, nine governors, and hundreds of women to the state legislatures, state constitutional offices, and other key local offices. In the 2009-2010 cycle, EMILY's List had the largest number of members and donors in our 27 year history.