Personal Retirement Accounts: “Wave Of The Future”

Arlington, VA — A new Zogby poll indicates that a majority of voters favor allowing younger workers to invest in personal retirement accounts (PRAs) and that’s “good news for future retirees,” according to the head of a national senior citizens group.

“The President’s initiatives for reform are slowly but surely taking hold,” said 60 Plus Association President Jim Martin. “I honestly believe in personal retirement accounts (PRAs) being the best reform for the 70-year-old system and Zogby’s numbers support that confidence as something that is only a matter of time before it happens. These reforms are the wave of the future and the U.S. is playing catch-up to more than two dozen countries that are already on the road to reform.”

Zogby’s poll for Cato’s Project on Social Security Choice sampled 1,006 likely voters and was conducted May 23-25, with a margin of error of +/- 3.2 percent. Among the results:

A majority of likely voters (by 52% – 40%) favor allowing younger workers the choice of privately investing a portion of their Social Security taxes through personal accounts with younger voters under 30 years of age supporting the idea by an enormous margin of 66 to 23%.

Republicans (72%) and conservatives (69%) support the accounts, while 62% of Democrats and 56% of liberals were opposed. “This suggests the partisan divide is still apparent,” Martin noted, “but perhaps more importantly, independents support accounts as well (55% to33%). Interestingly, 53% of union workers also supported personal accounts.”

And by an overwhelming 70% – 22%, voters believe that opponents of President Bush’s proposals have an obligation to put forward their own plan. Even 55% of Democrats believed this to be true.

Martin concluded, “I encourage friends and adversaries across the political divide to take cautious note of these Zogby numbers. I’ll say it again; PRAs are the wave of the future and will be safe without raising taxes or cutting benefits.”

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