Strengthening Social Security Rated as Very Important in Harris Poll

January 3, 2007 - As the new Congress is sworn in tomorrow, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and the Democrat leadership will find that saving Social Security is still very important to the American public, with almost nine in 10 U.S. adults (88%) saying they would support reform to ensure that the Social Security fund has enough money to provide benefits for all Americans for the next fifty years. The question was much broader than one that would measure support for specific reforms, like the private investment accounts promoted by President Bush but spurned by Congress and the voters.

Gap between retirement targets and source of income continues - November 9, 2006

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New speaker wants insurers to offer same coverage for mental illnesses as for physical conditions

January 2, 2007

Democrats Face Opposition on Bills to Negotiate Drug Prices, Plug 'Donut Hole'

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December 18, 2006

Read more on Politics for Senior Citizens

Expanding federal funding to include embryonic stem cell research, a move opposed by President Bush, is supported by 65% of the voters.

This poll did not ask questions about mandating Medicare to negotiate better drug prices or the re-importation of drugs, which are both expected to be high on the Democrats' agenda.

Just over half (56%) would support investigations into allegations that have been made about various actions of the Bush Administration. A partisan breakdown occurs here, as over eight in ten (82%) Democrats would support these investigations compared to less than one-quarter (23%) of Republicans.

These are the results of a nationwide Harris Poll of 2,309 U.S. adults surveyed online by Harris Interactive between December 12 and 18, 2006.

Public attitudes found in the survey toward other potential reform issues are:

● About eight in 10 U.S. adults support cutting interest rates for student loans (83%) and enacting new regulations to reduce the power and influence of lobbyists in Washington gets almost the same level of support (81%);

● One of the Democrats’ main agenda items, raising the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $7.25 an hour, gets support from just over three-quarters (78%) of U.S. adults. Perhaps not surprisingly, there is a partisan difference – Democrats overwhelmingly support this idea (92%), Independents’ support drops a little to 79 percent and just six in 10 (61%) Republicans support raising the minimum wage;

● Three-quarters of adults (76%) would support immigration reform to make it more difficult for immigrants to enter the U.S. and to stay in the U.S. for a prolonged length of time;

● Seven in 10 (69%) would support enacting legislation which would speed up the removal of troops from Iraq. There are large partisan differences here as well, with 90 percent of Democrats and 70 percent of Independents all support the enacting of this legislation, but only 44 percent of Republicans feeling the same way;

Majority of U.S. Residents Support Health Care Proposals from Democrats, Poll Finds

Jan. 3, 2007 - A majority of U.S. residents support Democrats' goals to ease restrictions on purchasing lower-cost prescription drugs from other countries and to federally fund stem cell research, according to an Associated Press-AOL News poll, the AP/San Diego Union-Tribune reports.

The poll involved a telephone survey of 1,004 U.S. adults from Dec. 19, 2006, through Dec. 21, 2006. According to the poll, 69% of U.S. adults support government efforts to make it easier for U.S. residents to purchase lower-cost prescription drugs from abroad.

The poll also found that 56% of U.S. adults support using federal money to fund embryonic stem cell research, which Democrats have promised to address during the first 100 hours of the new Congress. Bush in August 2006 vetoed a bill that would have directed federal funds to stem cell research.

The Associated Press-AOL News poll had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points (Superville, AP/San Diego Union-Tribune, 1/3).

"Reprinted with permission from kaisernetwork.org You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, and sign up for email delivery at www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. © 2006 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.”

● Two-thirds of U.S. adults (68%) would support legislation requiring companies to provide seven paid sick days a year and two-thirds (65%) would support expanding federal funding for embryonic stem cell research;

● One of President Bush’s signature bills, the education bill known as No Child Left Behind, is up for reauthorization this year and 57 percent of adults would support that effort. Interestingly, Republicans and Democrats are almost identical in their support (61% and 60%, respectively) while Independents are the group least likely to support it (44%). Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy was a sponsor of the legislation but Democrats have complained the administration has failed to fund the effort.

When asked what they think about the recent Congressional elections, just under half (47%) say they believe the result is a good thing for the country, while one in five (19%) say it is a bad thing and one-third (35%) are unsure.

Though Republicans are much more likely to think the elections were a bad thing, surprisingly, less than half (47%) that feel this way (versus 17% who say it was good). Three quarters of Democrats, on the other hand, think the election was a good thing (versus only 2% who say it was bad).

The sentiment over the election is echoed in the desire to see a divided government. Just over four in 10 (43%) say it is better for the country to have a President and a majority in Congress belonging to different parties while one-quarter (24%) say it is worse for the country and one-third (32%) are not sure.

Gallup Poll on Top Issues

2006 Dec 18-20
	%
Situation in Iraq/war	72
Economy in general	16
Poor healthcare/hospitals; high cost of healthcare	12
Immigration/illegal aliens	10
Education/poor education/access to education	5
National security	5
Federal budget deficit/federal debt	5
Terrorism	3
Fuel/oil prices/lack of energy sources/the energy crisis	3
Social Security	3

For full report, click here.

Again, there are partisan differences and these are probably linked to the current political climate. Just over four in 10 (43%) Republicans say it is worse to have a President and Congress of different parties while 53 percent of Democrats say it is better. If the Republicans had held Congress, these numbers would most likely have been very different.

Looking ahead to the next two years, Americans are of a mixed mind as to what will happen and some hold hope that there will be compromise between the parties.

One-third believes that Democrats in Congress will pass legislation, but the President will veto it.

One-quarter of adults believe Democrats and some Republicans will work out compromise legislation, while 18 percent believe Democrats in Congress and the President will compromise to pass legislation.

Ultimately, one-quarter are unsure of what the next two years will bring. Members of both parties agree that there will be some form of compromise taking place in Washington D.C. However, while Democrats (32%) are more likely to believe the compromise will happen between Democrats and Republicans in Congress, Republicans (23%) believe compromise will happen between the White House and Congress.

TABLE 1
Support or Opposition for New Congress agenda items

"In the beginning of January, the new Congress, which was elected in November, will be sworn into office. How much would you support or oppose the following items that might be on the agenda of the new Congress?" - Base: All Adults

	Support (NET)	Strongly Support	Somewhat Support	Oppose (NET)	Somewhat Oppose	Strongly Oppose	Not Sure
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Social Security reform to ensure the Social Security fund has enough money to provide benefits for all Americans for the next 50 years.	88	68	20	5	3	2	7
Cutting interest rates for student loans.	83	55	27	10	7	3	7
Enacting new regulations to reduce the power and influence of lobbyists in Washington.	81	59	22	7	5	2	12
Raising the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $7.25 an hour.	78	55	23	17	9	8	5
Immigration reform to make it more difficult for immigrants to enter the U.S. and to stay in the U.S. for a prolonged length of time.	76	59	18	17	10	6	7
Enacting legislation which would speed up the removal of troops from Iraq.	69	46	22	23	14	10	8
Enacting legislation requiring companies with at least 15 employees to provide seven paid sick days a year.	68	43	26	21	11	9	11
Expanding federal funding to embryonic stem cell research.	65	40	25	23	9	14	12
Reauthorizing the education bill known as No Child Left Behind.	57	31	26	30	16	14	13
Investigations into allegations that have been made about various actions on the Bush Administration.	56	35	21	34	15	19	10

Note: Percentages may not add exactly to 100% due to rounding.

TABLE 2
Support for New Congress agenda items – by party

"In the beginning of January the new Congress, which was elected in November, will be sworn into office. How much would you support or oppose the following items that might be on the agenda of the new Congress?"

SUMMARY OF SUPPORT RESPONSES

	Total	Party
	Total	Republican	Democrat	Independent
	%	%	%	%
Social Security reform to ensure the Social Security fund has enough money to provide benefits for all Americans for the next 50 years.	88	90	89	87
Cutting interest rates for student loans.	83	77	88	83
Enacting new regulations to reduce the power and influence of lobbyists in Washington.	81	80	81	88
Raising the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $7.25 an hour.	78	61	92	79
Immigration reform to make it more difficult for immigrants to enter the U.S. and to stay in the U.S. for a prolonged length of time.	76	88	71	74
Enacting legislation which would speed up the removal of troops from Iraq.	69	44	90	70
Enacting legislation requiring companies with at least 15 employees to provide seven paid sick days a year.	68	56	81	66
Expanding federal funding to embryonic stem cell research.	65	52	79	67
Reauthorizing the education bill known as No Child Left Behind.	57	61	60	47
Investigations into allegations that have been made about various actions on the Bush Administration.	56	23	82	58

TABLE 3

Election outcome

"Thinking about the recent congressional elections, do you believe that the outcome is a good thing or bad thing for the United States?" - Base: All Adults

	Total	Party
	Total	Republican	Democrat	Independent
	%	%	%	%
Good thing	47	17	75	47
Bad thing	19	47	2	12
Not sure	35	36	23	40

Note: Percentages may not add exactly to 100% due to rounding.

TABLE 4
Compromise in the Future?

"Which of these is more likely to occur in Washington, DC in the next two years?" - Base: All Adults

	Total	Party
	Total	Republicans	Democrats	Independents
	%	%	%	%
Democrats in Congress will pass legislation but the President will veto it	33	33	36	31
Democrats and some Republicans in Congress will work out compromise legislation	25	18	32	24
Democrats in Congress and the President will compromise to pass legislation	18	23	13	21
Not sure	25	27	19	24

Note: Percentages may not add exactly to 100% due to rounding.

TABLE 5
Divided Government?

"Not thinking of this time or any particular president, do you think it is better or worse for the country to have a president and a majority in Congress belonging to different parties?" - Base: All Adults

	Total	Party
	Total	Republican	Democrat	Independent
	%	%	%	%
Better	43	29	53	49
Worse	24	43	17	17
Not sure	32	28	30	34

Note: Percentages may not add exactly to 100% due to rounding.

Editor's Notes:

Methodology

The Harris Poll^® was conducted online within the United States between December 12 and 18, 2006 among 2,309 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online.

All surveys are subject to several sources of error. These include: sampling error (because only a sample of a population is interviewed); measurement error due to question wording and/or question order, deliberately or unintentionally inaccurate responses, non-response (including refusals), interviewer effects (when live interviewers are used) and weighting.

With one exception (sampling error) the magnitude of the errors that result cannot be estimated. There is, therefore, no way to calculate a finite "margin of error" for any survey and the use of these words should be avoided.

With pure probability samples, with 100 percent response rates, it is possible to calculate the probability that the sampling error (but not other sources of error) is not greater than some number. With a pure probability sample of 2,309 adults one could say with a 95 percent probability that the overall results would have a sampling error of +/- 2 percentage points. However that does not take other sources of error into account. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.

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