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5 Reasons Social Security Is on the Ballot for Young Voters in 2026
Younger workers are paying into Social Security now — and they may have the most at stake in the debate over the program’s funding gap
7-minute read
Evan Clark poses for a portrait at Observatory Park in Denver, Colorado.
Kevin Mohatt
Key takeaways
- Candidates elected in 2026 will have a big say in Social Security’s future, and any benefit reductions would likely target younger generations.
- Amid high living costs, young and middle-aged workers are struggling to save for retirement, making Social Security vital for their future economic security.
- Social Security is not just for retirees — it also helps workers who become disabled as well as millions of children, surviving spouses and other family members.
At first blush, Evan Clark may not seem like the typical Social Security voter. He’s 25 years old and more worried about student loans and the cost of gas than retirement security.
But he knows firsthand that Social Security isn’t just for retirees; it can also be a lifeline for families like his. In 2020, Clark’s father — a successful litigator — died by suicide. He had been the family’s sole breadwinner, with Clark’s mom staying at home to raise their four children.
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“We were sort of left trying to figure out how we were going to make things work financially,” Clark says. At age 19, he learned about Social Security survivor benefits, which go to spouses or children of deceased workers — payments that stabilized Clark’s family at a traumatic time.
Now, as Clark prepares to cast his ballot in the 2026 midterm elections, Social Security will be top of mind. “Having robust social safety nets is really important to me,” he says.
Evan Clark plays chess with a friend at Observatory Park in Denver, CO.
Kevin Mohatt
Here are five ways Social Security is on the ballot for Clark and other younger voters in 2026.
1. The next Congress could determine Social Security’s future — and any cuts to the program would likely fall on younger generations.
Social Security’s trust fund for retirement and survivor benefits is projected to run short in 2032. Without congressional action before then, the program would be able to pay out only about 80 percent of scheduled benefits.
Jenn Jones, vice president for retirement security and livable communities in AARP’s office of government affairs, says that if Congress reduces benefits, lawmakers will almost certainly not target current retirees and people who are close to retirement.
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“They would be reducing the benefits of young working adults,” Jones said during a recent AARP tele-town hall on Social Security. “Younger generations actually have the most at stake.”
In addition to facing potential cuts, Jones says, younger workers may also be asked to contribute more to the system in the form of higher taxes.
“We shouldn’t solve Social Security’s challenges by simply handing the bill to the next generation,” she says. "Congress needs to put all the revenue options on the table and have an honest and open debate about what’s fair to both current and future retirees."
The candidates elected to the U.S. Senate this November will still be in office when the 2032 deadline arrives for Congress to address Social Security’s funding gap, says John Hishta, AARP’s senior vice president for campaigns.
“It’s important that we elect people now who understand the importance of Social Security,” he says, “and who have a desire to make sure it’s there for future generations.”
2. Young workers are paying into Social Security now — earning future payments.
Social Security is primarily funded through payroll taxes. U.S. workers and their employers each pay a 6.2 percent tax on earnings up to a certain threshold — set at $184,500 for 2026.
“Everybody who works in this country right now pays into Social Security,” says Hishta. “It's important for young people to understand that they have a stake in this, not just for their parents and grandparents but also for their own future.”
Hishta says young voters should create an online My Social Security account now so they can review their earnings history and check their future benefits.
Those benefits don’t just provide a stable foundation in retirement. Social Security also serves as an insurance program for young and mid-career workers who develop a disability that forces them out of the workforce early.
The Social Security Administration estimates that a young adult turning 20 this year has a 1 in 4 chance of becoming disabled before reaching 67 (the age at which they would be able to claim their full Social Security benefit). In 2025, more than a quarter of applicants approved for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) payments were under 50, and 44 percent were in their 50s. As of September 2026, the average monthly benefit for a disabled worker was about $1,636.
“Workers do not expect to have their career disrupted or cut short by a disability,” says Jack Smalligan, a senior policy fellow and disability insurance expert at the Urban Institute, a Washington, D.C.–based think tank. But it’s a significant risk for young workers and their families, he says.
SSDI benefits replace about half of a typical worker’s earnings, so while they are “not generous,” Smalligan says, “they help people afford the essentials: housing, food and transportation.”
3. Social Security is an affordability issue.
Nearly 90 percent of current workers expect Social Security to be their top source of income in retirement, according to a 2026 Employee Benefit Research Institute survey.
It’s no wonder, given how many Americans are struggling to save at a time of persistent inflation. A 2026 poll by the National Institute on Retirement Security found that 68 percent of Americans 25 and older say preparing for retirement is becoming more difficult. They point to inflation, housing and health care costs and debt as among the key factors making it harder to save.
Bill Sweeney, AARP’s senior vice president for government affairs, notes that older generations often had access to employer-sponsored pensions that offered guaranteed monthly payments for life — a benefit that has largely disappeared in favor of 401(k)s. In 2026, only 14 percent of private sector workers had access to defined benefit plans, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“Gen X is really the first to be retiring in a world where they had to do all the savings,” Sweeney says. “And we know that’s extremely hard to do when you’re already struggling to make ends meet.”
Zane Snyder Cox, communications and youth engagement coordinator for the National Academy of Social Insurance, says young people are invested in Social Security’s future not only because of the retirement security promise it offers them but also because they see how it helps their parents and grandparents.
“They also understand that if their older family members see their benefits cut, young people will be called upon to fill the gap, taking on greater financial and caregiving responsibilities at a time when many are already paying off student debt, raising families and working towards buying a home,” Cox says.
Clark says he and his peers feel financially squeezed by rising rents, grocery bills and health care costs. “People my age are worried about whether we’ll be able to ever buy a home,” he says.
He sees Social Security as an affordability issue — a promise that he will have some economic security when he retires. “And if we don’t pay attention to it, then it may not be there for us,” he adds.
4. Millions of young Americans receive Social Security now – and it often keeps them out of poverty.
Social Security is mostly known for helping older Americans age with dignity, but it is also the biggest federal benefit program for children.
Children can claim Social Security if an eligible parent dies, develops a disability or retires while their child is still a minor. As of August 2026, more than 2.3 million beneficiaries under 18 were receiving Social Security payments, with an average monthly payment of $904.
“These benefits are a game changer for families when a breadwinner can no longer work, bringing many children out of poverty,” says Kathleen Romig, a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a Washington, D.C.–based think tank. A recent analysis by the center shows that Social Security lifts 1.1 million children above the poverty line.
For Clark’s family, survivors’ benefits “kept us afloat” while he, his siblings and his mom all scrambled to find work. “It helped us be able to pay our bills [and] our rent,” he says.
Evan Clark talks with friends at Observatory Park in Denver, CO.
Kevin Mohatt
5. Social Security is an ‘intergenerational promise.’
Jones, the AARP government affairs official, says the debate about Social Security’s future is often framed in a way that pits one generation against another — “boomers versus Gen Z or grandparents versus grandkids.”
But that misses the mark, she says, because Social Security is an “intergenerational” partnership. “The workers of yesterday helped build the system we rely on today,” she says. “The workers of today are sustaining it for tomorrow.”
Clark sees it that way too.
“We, as young people, are paying for older folks to have a safe retirement, and I really want to make sure that that promise is kept for our generation as well,” he says. “So I’m anti privatization, I’m anti raising the retirement age, because these are things that break that intergenerational promise.”
He says mobilizing people across generations will be key to shoring up Social Security.
“If we join together to take care of each other, Social Security can be the strongest it’s ever been,” he adds.
The key takeaways were created with the assistance of generative AI. An AARP editor reviewed and refined the content for accuracy and clarity.
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