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According to a Cornell poll, more than half of New Yorkers oppose Social Security reform

By Susan S. Lang

More than half of all New York state residents (51 percent) oppose President George W. Bush's proposal to change Social Security by allowing individuals to privately invest a portion of their Social Security taxes, according to a poll by Cornell's School of Industrial and Labor Relations Survey Research Institute (SRI). The poll found that only about one-third of residents (36 percent) surveyed support the proposal.

The survey was conducted between Feb. 7 and Feb. 26 and involved 802 interviews with residents from both upstate and downstate New York. "The results were weighted based on geography [upstate versus downstate] to account for population distribution and otherwise are representative of other key demographic criteria [gender, race, income, employment]," said Erik C. Nisbet, senior research associate with SRI and project manager for the SRI's Empire State Poll. The Empire State Poll is an annual, general survey of New York state residents who are at least 18 years old.

Other key findings of this year's poll:

  • Upstate New York residents are much more likely to support Social Security reform (45 percent) than are downstate residents (32 percent).

  • A higher percentage of Republicans (29 percent) oppose Social Security reform than the percentage of Democrats who support changing the program (22 percent).

  • Those in New York state who support changing Social Security to allow individual investment include 63 percent of self-identified Republicans, 22 percent of self-identified Democrats and 37 percent of political independents.

  • Support for changing Social Security is closely linked to how respondents feel about their personal financial situation and the New York state economy. Those who believe their personal financial situation could worsen in the next 12 months are less likely to support changes to the program (25 percent), compared with those who believe their personal financial situation will improve (41 percent).

  • Members of union households are more likely to oppose changing Social Security (60 percent) than members of non-union households (47 percent).

  • Members of low-income households with incomes less than $35,000 a year are the least supportive (30 percent) of Social Security changes, while those earning more than $75,000 are the most supportive (45 percent).

    The report is available online at http://www.sri.cornell.edu/espSoc_Sec_Report _2005.pdf.

    March 31, 2005

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