« Big Winners In Social Security Reform: Minorities. | WILLisms.com | Tort Reform Gaining Momentum. »

AARP Peddling Disingenuous Polling.

The Hill, "The Newspaper for and about the U.S. Congress," has obtained some interesting survey data conducted by The Winston Group, a Republican polling group, at the request of Congressional Republicans:

"In a poll that will be released during this week’s Republican retreat, 60 percent of the 1,000 respondents favored investing some portion of their Social Security funds into 'personal retirement accounts,' as compared to the 35 percent who opposed it."

In the Winston poll,

"... 78 percent of respondents believed 'we have to reform the Social Security system right now.' And 61 percent of respondents believed 'Americans are living longer, so in a few years there will not be enough younger workers to pay for the Social Security benefits of retirees.'

....

Taken at face value, a distinct majority does not believe Social Security reform is a special interest give-away. In the poll, only 37 percent of the respondents believed that 'President Bush and Republicans want to dismantle Social Security to give away money to their Wall Street friends.'"

The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), conversely, recently released a poll "that indicated only 43 percent of their 1,501 respondents favored 'private accounts.'" The AARP, one of the larger lobbying organizations in the United States, opposes personal market accounts in Social Security, and has joined the fight against Social Security reform.

However, putting aside the use of the radioactive term "privatization" by AARP pollsters, as The Hill notes, the AARP survey is not a representative sample of America, and therefore not really adequately scientific--- or useful. In fact:

"[The] AARP did not interview workers under 30 for its poll."

WILLisms.com is appalled at the Machiavellian underhandedness of this move, which is clearly an attempt to scare members of Congress into inaction. How unclassy of them.

Stay tuned to WILLisms.com for more on the AARP, its strategies, its motives, and its unclassiness, in the near future.

Posted by Will Franklin · 26 January 2005 10:17 PM

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.willisms.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/9

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference AARP Peddling Disingenuous Polling.:

» More On AARP's Manipulative Polling from WILLisms.com
WILLisms.com recently pointed out the disingenous nature of the public opinion polling data AARP released regarding Social Security reform. It turns out it's even worse than we imagined. According to USA Next, the AARP did more than simply exclude thos... [Read More]

Tracked on January 29, 2005 01:22 AM

» National Review Notes AARP's Agenda. from WILLisms.com
In the past month or so, WILLisms.com has commented regularly on AARP's scandalous duplicity (here, here, and here). Today, National Review magazine took on the AARP's manipulative polling and its liberal agenda: "AARP released a poll last month purpor... [Read More]

Tracked on February 10, 2005 09:58 PM

Comments

Posted by: Ian at January 27, 2005 07:18 PM

Post a comment