Poll: New Yorkers Oppose Social Security Plan

WASHINGTON -- Most New York metropolitan residents oppose the Bush administration's plan for private Social Security accounts even as they harbor strong doubts about the current program's ability to deliver on its promises, a new poll has found, according to Newsday.

Meanwhile, a national survey, released Monday by ABC and The Washington Post, found that 35 percent of those polled approved of the way President Bush was handling Social Security and 56 percent disapproved. The poll found that opposition to Bush's plan increased as people learned more about it.

The Stony Brook poll found that 31 percent of those questioned favored Bush's plan of allowing individuals to invest part of their Social Security payroll taxes in the stock market while 61 percent opposed it.

The survey found that support for Bush's plan was weakest among the elderly and strongest among younger people -- but that in every age group more opposed the proposal than backed it. Indeed, the poll found no majority support for the plan in any demographic category, whether defined by age, income level or residence. Even self-defined Republicans were split, with 48 percent in support and 45 percent opposed.

The center surveyed 850 residents of New York City, its northern suburbs, Long Island and northern New Jersey. The telephone poll, which had a margin of error of 3.4 percent, was conducted Feb. 3 through Feb. 27.

-- NYSSCPA.org News Staff

Posted on 3/15/05