Republican voters simply do not share the views of conservative ideologues on Social Security and Medicare. Trump gets it; DeSantis doesn’t.
found 82 percent of respondents opposing Social Security cuts limited to future retirees. And that same poll showed Republican support for measures to subsidize Social Security and Medicare to maintain current benefits strengthening significantly during the past ten years.
So why do Republican politicians keep getting this wrong? The problem is that conservatives with any sort of intellectual bent tend to think of Social Security and Medicare as vestiges of the New Deal and Great Society initiatives, which they deeply despise. As Chaitarticulates a theory that has circulated among elite right-wing economic elites for decades: that redistribution through taxes and spending via the ballot box poses an existential threat to liberty.
But rank-and-file Republicans don’t share this view; they tend to think of Social Security and Medicare not as redistributive or “welfare” programs but as. That’s partly because they contribute to these programs via payroll taxes and partly because they view these benefits as a reward for a lifetime of work.
You have to be an ideologue like DeSantis to defy this remarkably consistent positive feeling toward Social Security and Medicare among Republican voters, particularly on an issue that most impacts the portion of the electorate most likely to vote in both primaries and general elections. Trump isn’t bothered by any need for intellectual consistency; he sees a political opportunity and demagogues it without hesitation.
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