I like the NH polls - The 2/7-9 Concord Monitor poll had 55% support of private investment accounts dropping to 19% when people were asked if they would back the plan if it meant that a decline in stock value would reduce benefits. And the poll released Monday by the University of New Hampshire had 54% of 544 adults surveyed calling private accounts a bad idea.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-02-16-bush_x.htmMixed response as Bush tours with Social Security plan
By Oren Dorell, USA TODAY
PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — President Bush said Wednesday that his proposal to overhaul the Social Security system isn't risky.<snip>
He said private investment accounts would be similar to a current retirement plan "that allows federal employees to set aside some of their money and put it in safe stocks and bonds, so they get a better rate of return on their money than they would otherwise."
Bush spoke to an invited audience in a chilly hangar at Pease International Tradeport in Portsmouth, N.H. It was his ninth stop to promote his plan to offer workers born after 1949 the option of diverting a third of their Social Security payroll taxes to stocks and bonds.
<snip>
Bush outlined aspects he said should put people at ease:
• No one born before 1950 would be affected.
• Participation would be voluntary.
• Withdrawal limits would protect retirees from mishandling their money.
<snip>
(I NOTE THAT BUSH DOES NOT DISCUSS A FLOOR BELOW WHICH THE INVESTED MONIES COULD NOT FALL!)