evidence: Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley wants to raise retirement age, limit benefits for some, to save Social Security Nikki Haley, a former governor of South Carolina who is vying to be the Republican nominee for U.S. president, took a step into the often taboo topic of Social Security and said she would raise the retirement age in a move to save the entitlement program. [...] Haley's comments double-down on her thoughts from a month ago, when she told Bloomberg that "65 is way too low" of a retirement age and any new retirement age would need to be increased in relation to the average U.S. lifespan.