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Americans Deciding Social Security Reform Not Such A
Hot Idea
War bounces back as top concern, Social Security
drops to second, Medicare barely mentioned, drug prices drop off chart
By Tucker Sutherland
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Click chart for larger view.
Compares publics concern about the war, Social Security and the
economy. |
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June 18, 2005 – A poll was released yesterday that
indicates the public is losing interest in Social Security reform after
the initial push by President Bush in January drove it to
the number one issue concerning U.S. voters. By February had over-shadowed the war in Iraq and the economy as the top issue
Americans wanted addressed by Washington. The headlines from this Harris
Poll, however, were about the continued decline in the job approval ratings for
the President, but certainly part of this is due to his insistency on
reforming Social Security.
When asked to name the two most important issues
for the government to address -- without prompting or using a list --
the war is mentioned by the most number of people (24%) while Social
Security is second having been mentioned by 19 percent. This is a large
drop from April when almost one-third (31%) said Social Security was the
most important issue for the government to address and it drops from the
number one spot for the first time since October.
The only other issues seen as the most important to
address by 10 percent or more of the public are the economy, which is
mentioned by 18 percent, a large tick upward from the 13 percent who
mentioned it in April, and healthcare which is mentioned by 10 percent,
a slide downward from the 14 percent who mentioned it as important in
April.
Interestingly, Medicare, which is a much larger
financial problem for the U.S. than Social Security, still ranks very
low in public concern.
Prescription drug prices, which had at least been
showing up on about one percent of the responses, dropped off the chart
this month. Maybe senior citizens see help on the way in January with
the new Medicare prescription drug program.
The chart below shows the results over time when
voters were asked, "What do you think are the two most important issues
for the government to address?" Issues that are of high importance
primarily to senior citizens are highlighted in yellow. The numbers are
percentages.
|
'03
|
'04
|
'04
|
'04
|
'04
|
'05
|
'05
|
'05
|
|
Jun
|
Feb
|
Jun
|
Aug
|
Oct
|
Feb
|
April
|
Jun
|
(The) war
|
8
|
13
|
39
|
24
|
35
|
30
|
23
|
24
|
Social security
|
4
|
2
|
2
|
5
|
4
|
37
|
31
|
19
|
The economy (non-specific)
|
25
|
31
|
28
|
32
|
28
|
11
|
13
|
18
|
Healthcare (not Medicare)
|
14
|
16
|
10
|
17
|
18
|
14
|
14
|
10
|
Education
|
13
|
11
|
8
|
9
|
7
|
7
|
9
|
7
|
Iraq / (Saddam Hussein)
|
3
|
6
|
4
|
6
|
9
|
11
|
6
|
7
|
Energy/gas and oil prices
|
1
|
*
|
2
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
9
|
6
|
Terrorism
|
11
|
4
|
5
|
11
|
7
|
4
|
4
|
6
|
Employment/jobs
|
8
|
16
|
10
|
10
|
10
|
6
|
6
|
5
|
Taxes
|
11
|
5
|
4
|
4
|
8
|
5
|
6
|
5
|
Federal budget surplus/ deficit
|
4
|
5
|
5
|
2
|
2
|
10
|
6
|
4
|
Immigration
|
2
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
2
|
4
|
4
|
Abortion
|
1
|
3
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
2
|
2
|
4
|
(Programs for) the poor/ poverty
|
3
|
2
|
2
|
1
|
*
|
2
|
2
|
3
|
National security
|
6
|
4
|
5
|
6
|
5
|
4
|
4
|
3
|
Homeland/domestic security/ public safety
|
3
|
8
|
1
|
5
|
6
|
3
|
3
|
3
|
Domestic/social issues (non-specific)
|
1
|
4
|
4
|
2
|
2
|
2
|
3
|
3
|
Medicare
|
4
|
2
|
3
|
3
|
3
|
3
|
3
|
2
|
Foreign policy (non-specific)
|
2
|
6
|
2
|
2
|
3
|
3
|
3
|
2
|
Crime/violence
|
3
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
1
|
*
|
2
|
2
|
Military/defense
|
5
|
5
|
3
|
4
|
3
|
3
|
1
|
2
|
Environment
|
2
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
Peace/world peace/nuclear arms
|
3
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
*
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
AIDS
|
2
|
1
|
*
|
*
|
X
|
*
|
*
|
2
|
Welfare
|
3
|
2
|
2
|
1
|
*
|
1
|
2
|
1
|
Human/civil/women's rights
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
Homelessness
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
*
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
Downsizing government
|
X
|
1
|
1
|
*
|
1
|
*
|
1
|
1
|
Medical research
|
2
|
*
|
*
|
1
|
2
|
1
|
*
|
1
|
Religion (decline of)
|
1
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
1
|
*
|
*
|
1
|
Air travel safety
|
*
|
*
|
X
|
-
|
X
|
-
|
-
|
1
|
Family values (decline of)
|
1
|
2
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
-
|
*
|
1
|
Anthrax/Biological attack
|
1
|
*
|
*
|
1
|
X
|
-
|
*
|
1
|
School safety
|
2
|
*
|
1
|
2
|
*
|
-
|
*
|
1
|
Corporate fraud/scandals
|
1
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
1
|
Race relations
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
X
|
*
|
*
|
1
|
Ethics in government
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
*
|
1
|
*
|
-
|
1
|
Honesty/Integrity/Moral Values
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
2
|
1
|
1
|
*
|
Same sex marriage/rights
|
X
|
1
|
*
|
2
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
*
|
Prescription drug prices
|
1
|
1
|
*
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
*
|
Issues involving children
|
*
|
1
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
1
|
1
|
*
|
Middle East peace process (Palestinians and Israel)
|
2
|
*
|
*
|
1
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
Drugs
|
3
|
3
|
2
|
2
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
Programs for elderly (not Medicare/Social Security)
|
3
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
-
|
*
|
Gun control
|
*
|
1
|
1
|
*
|
1
|
-
|
-
|
*
|
Housing
|
1
|
*
|
*
|
1
|
*
|
*
|
-
|
*
|
Morality/sex on TV
|
X
|
1
|
*
|
1
|
1
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
Other(1)
|
8
|
3
|
12
|
5
|
8
|
21
|
4
|
2
|
Not sure/refused/no issue
|
12
|
15
|
14
|
12
|
9
|
7
|
1
|
14
|
President's Job Approval Ratings Continue to be
Low
The President's job approval ratings remain
negative this month as less than half of U.S. adults have a positive
rating towards him. Part of this continued pattern of low approval marks
could be due to the fact that the war has become the most important
issue for the government to address and the economy has also taken a
jump in importance. The president's current job ratings are 45 percent
positive, 55 percent negative, just slightly better than the worst
numbers of his presidency last month which were 44 percent positive and
56 percent negative.
These are some of the results of a new Harris Poll
of 1,015 U.S. adults surveyed by telephone by Harris Interactive(R)
between June 7 and 12, 2005.
Ratings of Other Cabinet Members
The Harris Poll(R) also examined the ratings of
others in the Bush administration and their ratings have also held
steady in the past two months. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has
ratings of 52 percent positive and 41 percent negative, a drop from
April when she was at 54 percent positive and 39 percent negative. She
still, however, stands atop the rankings of political figures whose
ratings were measured.
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has a 42
percent positive, 53 percent negative rating while Vice President Dick
Cheney has a 38 percent positive, 56 percent negative rating.
Congress and Congressional Leaders
Both the Republicans and Democrats in Congress
continue to have high negative ratings this month. One-third (33%) of
adults give a positive rating to Democrats in Congress and 61 percent
give a negative rating to them. Republicans do not fare much better as
they have a 37 percent positive and a 58 percent negative rating.
With regard to political leaders in Congress, while
not all adults are familiar with them, those who are do not think
positively of them for the most part. House Speaker Dennis Hastert,
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay
all have 28 percent positive ratings. Their negative numbers, however,
range from 44 percent for Speaker Hastert to 47 percent for Leader Frist
to 55 percent for Leader DeLay. One interesting thing to note is that
more adults are aware of Tom DeLay than of the other two congressional
leaders.
Right Direction or Wrong Track
Over half of adults (55%) believe that things in
the United States have pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track in
comparison with the 38 percent who believe things are going in the right
direction. This is a big jump from the beginning of the year when the
numbers were closer. In January, 46 percent believed the country was
moving in the right direction and 48 percent said it was going off on
the wrong track.
For more details on the poll, check the Harris
Website - (http://www.harrisinteractive.com/
)
Methodology
The Harris Poll(R) was
conducted by telephone within the United States between June 7 and 12,
2005 among a nationwide cross section of 1,015 adults (aged 18 and
over). Figures for age, sex, race, education, number of adults, number
of voice/telephone lines in the household, region and size of place were
weighted where necessary to align them with their actual proportions in
the population.
In theory, with a
probability sample of this size, one can say with 95 percent certainty
that the results have a sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage
points of what they would be if the entire U.S. adult population had
been polled with complete accuracy. Unfortunately, there are several
other possible sources of error in all polls or surveys that are
probably more serious than theoretical calculations of sampling error.
They include refusals to be interviewed (nonresponse), question wording
and question order, interviewer bias, weighting by demographic control
data and screening (e.g., for likely voters). It is impossible to
quantify the errors that may result from these factors.
These statements conform
to the principles of disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.
About Harris Interactive(R)
Harris Interactive Inc. (http://www.harrisinteractive.com/
), the 15th largest and fastest-growing market research firm in the
world, is a Rochester, NY-based global research company that blends
premier strategic consulting with innovative and efficient methods of
investigation, analysis and application. Known for The Harris Poll(R)
and for pioneering Internet-based research methods, Harris Interactive
conducts proprietary and public research to help its clients achieve
clear, material and enduring results.
Harris Interactive
combines its intellectual capital, databases and technology to advance
market leadership through its U.S. offices and wholly owned
subsidiaries, HI Europe in London (http://www.hieurope.com/
), Novatris in Paris (http://www.novatris.com/
), and through an independent global network of affiliate market
research companies. EOE M/F/D/V.
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