Survey shows majority in favor of initiative for a 13th AHV pension
Published: Friday, Jan 26th 2024, 06:10
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If the initiative for a 13th AHV pension had been put to the vote in mid-January, two thirds of voters would have approved it, according to a survey. The pension initiative would have been rejected with 53% of votes against. This is shown by the SRG SSR trend survey on the votes on March 3.
SRG SSR announced on Friday that the overall level of opinion formation was "medium advanced". There was rejection of the "For a better life in old age" initiative among respondents from the GLP and FDP parties. The majority of all others voted in favor of the proposal in mid-January.
In the political spectrum, the survey revealed that the 13th AHV pension received high approval ratings from the left and from those not affiliated with a political party. The SVP and the center are more reserved, but the majority would support the initiative. Approval also increases significantly with the age of the respondents, but even the youngest voters express approval in the majority of cases.
From a regional perspective, approval was higher in urban areas than in rural areas or in small or medium-sized conurbations, the report continued. The lower level of approval in German-speaking Switzerland (56%) compared to Latin-speaking Switzerland (76% in French-speaking Switzerland and 79% in Ticino) is also noteworthy.
"Compensation for inflation"
According to SRG, the argument that the 13th AHV pension would compensate for the disintegration of the 2nd pillar had the greatest impact on a favorable vote. 57% of respondents agreed with this statement. The argument that it is important to improve the financial situation of pensioners in view of general inflation received higher approval, at 80%.
According to the survey, the most convincing arguments on the contra side include the argument that a 13th AHV pension would lead to higher value-added taxes and wage contributions and that the initiative would jeopardize the well-being of future generations.
No to the pension initiative
According to SRG, six percent of respondents were still undecided on the pension initiative "for secure and sustainable old-age provision". The majority of the groups surveyed would be against the initiative. People of retirement age who would not be affected by an increase would narrowly vote in favor of the initiative. Only around a third of working-age voters would vote in favor of the initiative.
The initiative appears to be slightly more attractive to men, with 44% approving, compared to 38% for women, the report continued. Households with a higher income would rate the initiative more favorably than households with a medium income. From a regional perspective, French-speaking Switzerland achieved the lowest approval rating at 36%. Ticino achieved the highest value with 45 percent.
According to the trend survey, the parties in favor of the pension initiative would be the FDP and the GLP. Two thirds of the FDP and just under half of the GLP support the proposal. This would be opposed by the center and the SVP. The SP, Greens and independents are clearly against the initiative.
"Reinforcing injustice"
The most influential arguments put forward by supporters of the pension initiative were the need to raise the retirement age in order to sustainably finance the AHV, with 53% in favor, and the need to combat the shortage of skilled workers, with 50%.
On the No side, 65% believe that the initiative would ignore the current problems of older jobseekers, SRG wrote. There is similarly high agreement with the argument that many people would not be mentally or physically able to work longer than 65 and that this would increase social injustice.
For the survey, the research institute gfs.bern interviewed 19,490 people by telephone and online between January 8 and 21. The sampling error is +/-2.8 percentage points.
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