According to pollsters, including Democratic pollster John Zogby, the Democratic Party’s steadfast opposition to Social Security reform is alienating almost every demographic group in the country, especially Hispanics and blacks. The Democrats are playing a very dangerous game here, hoping Americans don’t understand the issue, and/or aren’t paying attention. Unfortunately for them, they’re wrong. I would expect this to be a big issue in the 2006 midterm elections.
Political pollsters say Democratic leaders risk alienating strategic parts of their party’s base who support President Bush’s plan to let workers invest a portion of their Social Security payroll taxes in stocks or bonds.
As the political debate heats up over the plan that Mr. Bush will present Wednesday in his State of the Union address to Congress, Democratic officials are beginning a major “Million Dollars in Seven Days” lobbying offensive against it. They are calling their effort “the most extensive, far-reaching and effective grass-roots issues campaign America has ever seen.”
But pollsters who closely track how Mr. Bush’s Social Security investment proposal plays with the American people say that his reform cuts across every demographic and political line, appealing especially to many Hispanics, blacks and Asians who make up a large part of the Democrats’ political base of support.
“Democrats are missing the boat on a number of issues that can be of appeal to their own base. On Social Security reform, you are looking at younger voters, union members and minorities that find this idea popular,” said pollster John Zogby, who has done numerous polls on private Social Security investment plans over the past several years.
“The Democrats are very busy turning 48 percent of the vote into a free fall, and that’s not easy to do. They are not talking to their own base, let alone to the rest of middle America,” he said.
