Some of the major Republican candidates for President have taken on the Social Security System, particularly Texas Governor Rick Perry, who described it in his 2010 book Fed Up! as a Ponzi scheme for younger Americans. Many Republican voters in the latest Economist/YouGov Poll agree — although even more agree with former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney’s statement that Social Security must be kept and made financially secure.
The Economist/YouGov Poll tested three statements each of those two candidates has said in the current campaign or written in the past, without indicating which candidate had said them. Two statements by Romney score highest, both with the public overall and with Republican voters. Majorities of all Americans and eight in ten Republican voters approve of Romney’s defense of Social Security and also his statement that “Career politicians got us into this mess, and they simply don’t know how to get us out.”
