Poll: Social Security lacks N.C. support

Many North Carolina residents are not in line with President Bush’s proposed Social Security reforms, a new Elon University poll shows.

The statewide telephone poll, administered to 544 adults chosen at random, states that 46 percent of respondents “disapprove” or “strongly disapprove” of Bush’s proposed changes to Social Security.

This information might come as a surprise, given the fact that Bush carried the state by a comfortable 12-point margin last November.

But Ferrel Guillory, director of UNC’s Program in Southern Politics, Media and Public Life, said Bush owes his election victory to his strength as a leader after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, not the popularity of his Social Security policy.

He added that the war in Iraq and the economy overshadowed Social Security as the main issues during the election.

“This poll is telling us that Bush really has a lot of work to do to sell his ideas on Social Security to the public,” said Tim Vercellotti, director of the poll and a professor of political science at Elon.

He added that North Carolinians, while tending to side with Republicans on national issues, agree with the majority of the country on how the president has handled Social Security.

But the state’s Republican senators, Elizabeth Dole and Richard Burr, have voiced support for the president’s proposals in the past.

“These numbers will most likely not cause Burr or Dole to change their support of the president,” Vercellotti said.

Doug Heye, Burr’s spokesman, said the senator’s position comes from a political conviction rather than public opinion.

“(Burr) doesn’t look to polls at all to guide his policy decisions,” Heye said. “People don’t elect people that are going to look at polls to make their decisions. That’s not leadership.”

Burr and Dole’s Social Security views line up with 31 percent of the state, according to the Elon poll.

Vercellotti added that Bush decided to push his widely debated plan for Social Security well before the midterm election in 2006 — an election that will determine who holds a number of seats in both chambers of the U.S. Congress.

“If Congress believes these changes cannot be made or there is not enough popular support to get his intended changes through, then the effects of the political fallout on public support for the president will have time to recover,” Vercellotti said.

“Bush would not have that luxury if he pushed these issues a year from now.”

In his visit to Raleigh last week, President Bush reinforced his belief that Social Security is in a state of crisis and needs major reform.

“A lot of North Carolina believes that something needs to be done concerning the issue of Social Security,” Guillory said.

“A majority doesn’t believe that President Bush’s way is necessarily that best way to deal with the matter,” he added.

“If he wants to convince them otherwise, he’s got a lot of hard work and campaigning ahead of him.”

Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.