Social Security Polls Favorable When Topic is Understood

New polls out by John Zogby and the Cato Institute support President Bush’s proposal to let younger workers invest some of their Social Security payroll taxes through personal accounts. In what can only be described as laughable comes the following analysis of the polls. Laughable in the sense that one wonders exactly how most of the polls are given, who they are given to and how they are worded. Look what happens when people given the poll are informed.

The poll by independent pollster John Zogby for the Cato Institute, which is being released today, found that when voters understood the benefits of personal investment accounts, including a better financial rate of return than the current system, the Bush plan was supported by 52 percent of Americans and opposed by 40 percent.

What a novel concept; when people actually understand the benefits of personal accounts they are in favor of them. Go figure. What next when individuals under stand that running in front of on coming traffic may be dangerous they may stop doing that as well?

“The thing that is compelling in this poll is that this is the response you get when you use a positive approach on Social Security reform,” Mr. Zogby said. “If you use the ‘Chicken Little, sky-is-falling’ approach, then voters understand that something has to be done, but don’t see the connection between personal accounts and fundamental reform of Social Security.”

What should send shock waves through the Democratic Party is the fact that opposition to Social Security reform could be a colossal blunder of obstructionism for the 2006 and 2008 elections.

The survey also contained a warning for the Democrats about how their opposition to any reform of the Social Security system is playing with the electorate.

“By an overwhelming 70-22 percent margin, voters believe that opponents of President Bush’s proposals for Social Security reform have an obligation to put out their own plan for reforming the program,” including 55 percent of Democratic voters, Mr. Zogby said in a report of his findings.

So far Democrats have refused to put forth any plan and have only “nay sayed” the President’s one. Not only does this show no leadership on the topic, it flies in the face of what the people seem to want out of their politicians. Maybe this can explain why Congresses job approval ratings are in the tank? In other previous polls from the Rasmussen Reports, Fifty-one percent of American adults said that Social Security needs to be fixed while just 38% opposed the notion to fix Social Security.