U.S. president George W. Bush vowed to reform the Social Security during his re-election campaign. Bush has proposed allowing workers to divert up to four per cent of their Social Security taxes into personal accounts that could be invested in stocks and bonds. In his Feb. 2 State of the Union address, the president explained his rationale, saying, "Your money will grow, over time, at a greater rate than anything the current system can deliver."

On Apr. 5 in West Virginia, Bush declared, "I think now is the time for people in Congress to stop playing politics with the issue and come to the table with how they think it ought to be fixed." 79 per cent of respondents believe it is important for the executive and legislative branches deal with Social Security within the next 12 months.

Polling Data

As you may know, a proposal has been made that would allow workers to invest part of their Social Security taxes in the stock market or in bonds, while the rest of those taxes would remain in the Social Security system. Do you favour or oppose this proposal?

              Apr. 2005      Mar. 2005       Dec. 2004

Favour        39%               45%                47%

Oppose       56%               48%                48%

How important is it to you that the president and Congress deal with Social Security in the next year?

                                     Apr. 2005          Feb. 2005

Extremely important       37%                   41%

Very important               42%                    38%

Moderately important   15%                    15%

Not that important           5%                      5%


Methodology: Telephone interviews to 1,040 American adults, conducted on Apr. 1 and Apr. 2, 2005. Margin of error is 3 per cent.