ITHACA, N.Y. -- More than half of all New York state residents (51 percent) oppose President Bush's proposal to change Social Security by allowing individuals to privately invest a portion of their Social Security taxes, according to a poll by Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations Survey Research Institute (SRI). The poll found that only about one-third of residents (36 percent) surveyed support the proposal.

The survey was conducted between Feb. 7 and Feb. 26 and involved 802 interviews with residents from both upstate and downstate New York. "The results were weighted based on geography [upstate vs. downstate] to account for population distribution and otherwise are representative of other key demographic criteria [gender, race, income, employment]," says Erik C. Nisbet, project manager for the SRI's Empire State Poll.

Other key findings:

• Upstate New York residents are much more likely to support Social Security reform (45 percent) than are downstate residents (32 percent).
• A higher percentage of Republicans (29 percent) oppose Social Security reform than the percentage of Democrats who support changing the program (22 percent).
• Support for changing Social Security is closely linked to how respondents feel about their personal financial situation and the New York state economy. Those who believe their personal financial situation could worsen in the next 12 months are less likely to support changes to the program (25 percent), compared with those who believe their personal financial situation will improve (41 percent).
• Members of union households are more likely to oppose changing Social Security (60 percent) than members of non-union households (47 percent).

  The report is available online at http://www.sri.cornell.edu/esp/Soc_Sec_Report_2005.pdf .