News Release

July 23, 2002

New Cato-Zogby poll shows two-thirds of Likely Voters want to invest in personal Social Security accounts
Support remains strong despite market turmoil and accounting scandals

WASHINGTON -- Amid the downturn in the stock markets and corporate accounting scandals, 68 percent of Americans continue to support allowing workers to invest a portion of their Social Security taxes in personal retirement accounts, a new Cato Institute poll of likely voters has found. The national survey's findings were particularly revealing as the poll was conducted during an especially volatile week when the Dow experienced a drop of almost 700 points.

The results of the poll, conducted for Cato by Zogby International, reveal that Americans would back changes to the Social Security system to permit investment in individual accounts by a margin of greater than 2-1. Further, the support cuts across all demographic and ideological lines.

"The most important reason why people support individual retirement accounts is a desire to control their own retirement savings." Michael Tanner, director of Cato's Project on Social Security Choice, said.

"While people are clearly concerned about recent market turmoil," said John Zogby "There is a fundamental belief in controlling your own retirement that trumps any volatility."

When posed with the statement, "There are some in government who advocate changing the Social Security system to give younger workers the choice to invest a portion of their Social Security taxes through individual accounts similar to IRAs or 401(K) plans," 68 percent of voters indicated support, 29 percent opposed and 3 percent weren't sure.

Younger people (83 percent) overwhelmingly supported individual accounts, while a clear majority of union workers and Democrats (64 percent and 56 percent respectively) felt the same way. Perhaps most surprisingly, 64 percent of voters agreed that the recent accounting scandals meant that people needed more control over their retirement finances, making them more likely to support private accounts for Social Security.

The 10-question survey of 1,109 likely voters was conducted between July 8 and July 12 -- two weeks after the WorldCom accounting scandal broke and during the week when the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 694.97 points. The poll has a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percent.

View crosstabs (PDF 15 pp., 34 Kb)