Before it slides off the recent diary list, please go visit daveweigel's diary:
Gallup poll: Bush's benefit cuts opposed, 54-38
Among other things, it has information on:
- Bush's Approval on Social Security (still falling)
- Support for Private Accounts (rising slightly)
- Perception of Democratic and Republican motivations for their positions on Social Security (we've got work to do here, as the Republican talking points are clearly having an effect)
- Preference between raising taxes and cutting benefits (raise taxes)
Daveweigel ends his diary with this suggestion for how Democrats should go forward:
"If I had to propose a Democratic strategy, I'd say 'Bush is getting credit for tackling the issue, but his actual proposals are unpopular. Propose a limited set of relatively-painless solvency fixes, and then go on the attack on Republicans for not supporting these fixes.'"
In the comments to daveweigel's diary, other ideas are being discussed, and the proposal gaining the most attention is eliminating the cap, a.k.a. the Wealthy Wage Exemption.
My current view is that Democrats should take a three-step approach going forward:
- Continue to criticize Bush and the Republicans for their threats not to pay back the trust fund (see this statement from Rep. Waxman).
- Affirm that Democrats will ensure the government does live up to it's "moral and legal committment" to pay back the money working Americans have put into the system, which will ensure full benefits for at least 30-40 more years.
- Use Bush's language about the "better off" to introduce a proposal for long-term solvency that is truly limited to the better off -- rather than a plan that would cut benefits for everyone making more than $20,000, we should focus on ending the Wealthy Wage Exemption, which allows people to avoid paying any taxes on income over $90,000.
Others will have different ideas, and now that Bush has put something concrete on the table and we have an indication of the public's reaction to that proposal, we should have a vigorous discussion about whether it's time to move beyond the "just say no" strategy that worked so well in the initial phase of this battle.
PLEASE don't recommend this diary. Instead, go recommend daveweigel's diary, and let's gather there to continue the conversation.
And if daveweigel is reading this, you might update your diary with this link to the CNN story about the poll, courtesy of this diary from Dperl99.