The American Public Strongly Supports Social Security Reform

As the new Congress is sworn in this week, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and the Democrat leadership should be aware the Social Security reform is still very important to the American public, with almost nine in 10 U.S. adults (88%) saying they would support reform to ensure that the Social Security fund has enough money to provide benefits for all Americans for the next fifty years. Just over half (56%) would support investigations into allegations that have been made about various actions of the Bush Administration. A partisan breakdown occurs here, as over eight in ten (82%) Democrats would support these investigations compared to less than one-quarter (23%) of Republicans.

These are the results of a nationwide Harris Poll of 2,309 U.S. adults surveyed online by Harris Interactive^® between December 12 and 18, 2006.

Public attitudes found in the survey toward other potential reform issues are:

• About eight in 10 U.S. adults support cutting interest rates for student loans (83%) and enacting new regulations to reduce the power and influence of lobbyists in Washington gets almost the same level of support (81%);
• One of the Democrats’ main agenda items, raising the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $7.25 an hour, gets support from just over three-quarters (78%) of U.S. adults. Perhaps not surprisingly, there is a partisan difference – Democrats overwhelmingly support this idea (92%), Independents’ support drops a little to 79 percent and just six in 10 (61%) Republicans support raising the minimum wage;
• Three-quarters of adults (76%) would support immigration reform to make it more difficult for immigrants to enter the U.S. and to stay in the U.S. for a prolonged length of time;
• Seven in 10 (69%) would support enacting legislation which would speed up the removal of troops from Iraq. There are large partisan differences here as well, with 90 percent of Democrats and 70 percent of Independents all support the enacting of this legislation, but only 44 percent of Republicans feeling the same way;
• Two-thirds of U.S. adults (68%) would support legislation requiring companies to provide seven paid sick days a year and two-thirds (65%) would support expanding federal funding for embryonic stem cell research;
• One of President Bush’s signature bills, the education bill known as No Child Left Behind, is up for reauthorization this year and 57 percent of adults would support that effort. Interestingly, Republicans and Democrats are almost identical in their support (61% and 60%, respectively) while Independents are the group least likely to support it (44%).

When asked what they think about the recent Congressional elections, just under half (47%) say they believe the result is a good thing for the country, while one in five (19%) say it is a bad thing and one-third (35%) are unsure. Though Republicans are much more likely to think the elections were a bad thing, surprisingly, less than half (47%) that feel this way (versus 17% who say it was good). Three quarters of Democrats, on the other hand, think the election was a good thing (versus only 2% who say it was bad).

The sentiment over the election is echoed in the desire to see a divided government. Just over four in 10 (43%) say it is better for the country to have a President and a majority in Congress belonging to different parties while one-quarter (24%) say it is worse for the country and one-third (32%) are not sure. Again, there are partisan differences and these are probably linked to the current political climate. Just over four in 10 (43%) Republicans say it is worse to have a President and Congress of different parties while 53 percent of Democrats say it is better. If the Republicans had held Congress, these numbers would most likely have been very different.

Looking ahead to the next two years, Americans are of a mixed mind as to what will happen and some hold hope that there will be compromise between the parties. One-third believes that Democrats in Congress will pass legislation, but the President will veto it. One-quarter of adults believe Democrats and some Republicans will work out compromise legislation, while 18 percent believe Democrats in Congress and the President will compromise to pass legislation. Ultimately, one-quarter are unsure of what the next two years will bring. Members of both parties agree that there will be some form of compromise taking place in Washington D.C. However, while Democrats (32%) are more likely to believe the compromise will happen between Democrats and Republicans in Congress, Republicans (23%) believe compromise will happen between the White House and Congress.

"In the beginning of January, the new Congress, which was elected in November, will be sworn into office. How much would you support or oppose the following items that might be on the agenda of the new Congress?"

Base: All Adults

Note: Percentages may not add exactly to 100% due to rounding.

"In the beginning of January the new Congress, which was elected in November, will be sworn into office. How much would you support or oppose the following items that might be on the agenda of the new Congress?"

Base: All Adults

"Thinking about the recent congressional elections, do you believe that the outcome is a good thing or bad thing for the United States?"

Base: All Adults

Note: Percentages may not add exactly to 100% due to rounding.

"Which of these is more likely to occur in Washington, DC in the next two years?"

Base: All Adults

Note: Percentages may not add exactly to 100% due to rounding.

"Not thinking of this time or any particular president, do you think it is better or worse for the country to have a president and a majority in Congress belonging to different parties?"

Base: All Adults

Note: Percentages may not add exactly to 100% due to rounding.

The Harris Poll^® was conducted online within the United States between December 12 and 18, 2006 among 2,309 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online.

All surveys are subject to several sources of error. These include: sampling error (because only a sample of a population is interviewed); measurement error due to question wording and/or question order, deliberately or unintentionally inaccurate responses, non-response (including refusals), interviewer effects (when live interviewers are used) and weighting.

With one exception (sampling error) the magnitude of the errors that result cannot be estimated. There is, therefore, no way to calculate a finite "margin of error" for any survey and the use of these words should be avoided.

With pure probability samples, with 100 percent response rates, it is possible to calculate the probability that the sampling error (but not other sources of error) is not greater than some number. With a pure probability sample of 2,309 adults one could say with a 95 percent probability that the overall results would have a sampling error of +/- 2 percentage points. However that does not take other sources of error into account. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

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