Latest Poll: Most Are Pro-Choice...on Social Security

Despite the AARP's scare tactics, 60% back private accounts, including 76% of those under 30.

by Rod D. Martin
April 29, 2005

You'd never know it listening to the mainstream media, but poll after poll shows big majorities for private Social Security accounts. And the numbers are increasing, fast.

A month ago, pollsters found 60 percent of Americans backing private accounts, from a low of 54 percent among seniors to a high of 76 percent among those under 30. This was in spite of an ad blitz by the AARP designed to scare seniors (and everyone else) out of their skins.

But that was nothing. As great as those numbers were -- and as much a no-brainer as they made the President's plan -- what's happened since makes them look downright paltry.

Wednesday's Opinion Dynamics poll showed huge gains for private accounts among all age groups. Overall, a whopping 79 percent of Americans believe people under 55 should have the right to personally invest a portion of their Social Security savings. Among those under 55, the number jumps to 84 percent. And here's the real kicker: more than three qua…