Dan Froomkin got a presentation from pollsters yesterday on Obama and Social Security. The President could be going down a dangerous path on this critical issue. If Obama thinks cutting Social Security benefits is a good idea, he's getting very, very bad advice:
President Barack Obama's apparent willingness to consider cuts in Social Security benefits may be winning him points with Washington elites, but it's killing him with voters, who see the program as inviolate and may start to wonder what the Democratic Party stands for, if not for Social Security.It's stunning that we're even having to worry about Obama and Social Security. But, the concerns are real. And, I don't know how Team Obama will sell this to the base.
That's the conclusion of three top progressive pollsters who spoke to reporters Wednesday at a briefing sponsored by the Economic Policy Institute, the Century Foundation and Demos.
"For the public, cutting benefits is the problem, not the solution," said Guy Molyneux, a partner at Hart Research Associates.
As a result, the pollsters said that any Democrat seeking elected office in 2012 should be begging Obama not to say anything about Social Security cuts in his State of the Union address later this month.
