Democrats fight to protect the entitlements of the elderly, and Republican generally want to cut them, but the elderly vote predominantly for Republicans. How can this be explained?
As a group, the elderly tend to be more socially conservative than the rest of society, and so gravitate towards the GOP’s message of protecting Christians and the white patriarchy. By and large, in spite of plenty of evidence to the contrary, they do not appear to believe that Republicans will actually vote to cut their entitlements when push comes to shove; perhaps they believe they have too much clout for that to occur.
Their faith will be tested during the next four years. True, Trump has promised not to cut Social Security and Medicare, and his first “budget” was consistent with that commitment. He is surrounded by people who feel otherwise, however. Social Security and Medicare “reform” probably won’t occur during the next four years, but you would be foolish to take that to the bank.