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Thursday, June 09, 2005
More Data from the Post/ABC Poll
If the previously released data on the President's approval on matters of foreign relations was not disturbing enough to his key supporters, now more data is available on Americans' views on his domestic progams. And as Richard Morin and Jim VandeHei reports for The Washington Post, the President still hasn't sold his Social Security plan to the American public.
President Bush yesterday said his plan to restructure Social Security would improve the program's long-term stability without shrinking the retirement income of older Americans. But a new Washington Post-ABC News survey found a clear majority of the public does not believe that.
The poll found that 56 percent said the president's plan to couple new personal retirement accounts with a reduction in guaranteed benefits for most Americans would cut the overall retirement income of seniors. About a third -- 32 percent -- said Bush's proposals would result in future retirees receiving more money.
More troubling for a president who took a political risk by advocating reductions in future guaranteed benefits for all but the poorest Americans is that an even larger majority said the Bush plan would not fix the system's financial problems. More than six in 10 -- 63 percent -- said the proposals would not improve the long-term financial stability of the Social Security system, while 32 percent said it would.
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According to the poll, 62 percent of respondents said they disapproved of the way he was handling Social Security, an increase of seven percentage points since January. Fewer than half -- 48 percent -- support a voluntary plan to invest some of their Social Security contributions in the stock market, a key change advocated by Bush, while 49 percent reject private investment accounts, down from 51 percent last month but still a five-point increase since mid-December.
More worrisome for the president is that support for personal accounts drops to 27 percent if it is coupled with a reduction in the growth of guaranteed Social Security benefits for future retirees, a provision the White House is considering.
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