CNNs Henry Misrepresents Personal Accounts Polls
Claims public doesnt support private accounts, but facts show otherwise.
Even as President Bush
endorsed a new Social Security plan that didnt focus on personal
accounts, poor coverage of the reform issue continued. This time, it
was CNNs Ed Henry claiming that people dont support personal
accounts even though that isnt the case.
According to Henry, on the June 21, 2005, Inside Politics, We see
polls across the board saying that the public by and large doesnt
support private accounts. Henry didnt cite any of the polls
showing this overwhelming opposition. Henry didnt even bother to
quote from the skewed poll done by CNN/USA Today/Gallup from April
1-2, 2005.
That poll asked how people felt about an idea that would allow
people to invest some of their Social Security taxes in the stock
market and bonds, but would reduce the guaranteed benefits when they
retire. The question ignored the obvious upside that, on average,
investing offers a far greater return than Social Security and
focused on the loss of retirement benefits. The question skipped the
fact that Social Security is running out of money entirely. That
last fact means Social Security will be unable to pay full benefits
as of 2041 a guaranteed reduction in benefits when they retire.
Polls have been amazingly consistent about the overall view of
Social Security. They show that the public truly does understand
that Social Security is in crisis. They also support raising taxes
on others, not themselves, and oppose benefit cuts or raises of the
eligibility age. In short, most people want their cake and want to
eat it all through retirement. They just dont expect that to
happen.
But the polls also show support for, not opposition to,
personal accounts. Here are a few from
www.pollingreport.com that show what Henry should have reported:
A mid-March poll from the liberal Pew Research Center for the People
& the Press showed 44 percent in favor of private retirement
accounts compared with 40 percent opposed.
A Fox News/Opinion Dynamics Poll from April 25-26, 2005, showed
overwhelming support for personal accounts. Respondents were asked
the following: [D]o you think people under age 55 should have the
right to choose between keeping all of their contributions in the
current system and investing a portion of their contributions.
Seventy-nine percent said yes to that question. Another 53 percent
said they would want the choice to invest on their own.
Slanted Questions
Polls that showed opposition to personal accounts often relied on
loaded questions. The CBS News/New York Times poll of June 10-15,
2005, claimed a slightly larger number opposed personal accounts
than supported them 50 percent opposed to 45 percent for. But that
result ignored the slant of the question, which emphasized that this
plan would involve greater risk. Even with that, the numbers
werent far apart in the latest study and were dead even only two
weeks earlier.
The NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll from May 12-16, 2005, was even
more deceptive, asking respondents whether it was good or bad to
invest their Social Security in the stock market. That question
wasnt even accurate. Personal accounts proposals would allow
individuals to place money in a small mix of stocks and bonds
similar to the federal Thrift Savings Plan, not directly into the
stock market. Unsurprisingly, there was opposition to that loaded
question. Opponents barely managed more than half (56 percent)
despite the skewed question.
The news media also have focused on presidential approval to measure
support for personal accounts, but that is far from a fair measure
of how people feel about controlling their own retirement. Take this
question from an ABC News/Washington Post poll: Do you approve or
disapprove of the way Bush is handling Social Security? Given the
focus on the president, that question guarantees anyone who voted
against him will automatically say he or she disapproved.
CNNs Henry said, later in the program, But it does not appear the
public is buying private accounts right now. How can you turn that
around? The most obvious way Henry could have answered his own
question would be with improved media coverage of both sides of the
reform debate.
A recent study from the Media Research Centers Business & Media Institute
found Social Security coverage on the five major networks biased
toward the left by a margin of 2 to 1. In total, 44 percent of the
125 stories studied were liberally slanted compared to just 22
percent that were conservative. The study was released in three
parts.
Here is the first part:
