Social Security has broad support – prefer behavioroid and specific studies.

When we measured support as favoring increases, decreases, or maintenance of benefits, we found respondents to be quite supportive. Of those responding, 57% wanted Social Security benefits to be increased, 40% wanted benefits maintained, and only 3% wanted to see benefits decreased. Using this three-level question to compose a support score yields a mean of 2.53. Table 2 shows both the mean levels of support and the percentages of each response given for the seven major social welfare programs about which we asked. Mean support for Social Security is comparable to that for the Supplemental Security Income [Paired T (1152) = -0.33, p < .75] but significantly lower than the mean support for Medicare [Paired T (1176) = -6.78, p < .OOl]. It is TABLE 2 Support for an increase, Decrease, or Maintenance of Current Benefit Levels for Seven Social Welfare Programs: Percentages and Mean Support Scores* Percent increase 67.60 57.30 56.70 47.10 31.50 32.60 24.60 Percent maintain 29.90 40.00 40.00 46.30 55.50 51.90 51.00 Percent decrease 2.50 2.70 3.30 6.60 13.00 15.50 24.40 Mean scores 2.65 2.55 2.53 2.40 2.18 2.17 2.00 Notes: *The percentages are based on valid responses only; the few “don’t knows” and refusals have been omitted. The mean scores range from 3 (increase) to 1 (decrease). Standard deviations range from 0.44 to 0.72. 346 JOURNAL OF AGING STUDIES Vol. ~/NO. 4/l 988 significantly higher than support for Medicaid [Paired T (1155) = 5.83, p < .OOl], Unemployment Compensation [Paired T (1137) = 16.08, p < .OO 11, Aid to Families with Dependent Children [Paired T (1150) = 15.94, p < .OOl], and Food Stamps [Paired T (1115) = 22.09, p < .OOl]. It appears that the programs with the highest levels of support are those for which the elderly are the primary beneficiaries: Medicare, Social Security, and SSI. The increase-decrease measure of support is a simplistic, although informative, measure of support. Of perhaps greater importance to researchers and policymakers is to understand the degree to which people are willing to back up their beliefs with actions. As discussed in the methods section, we measured four dimensions of support-stated satisfaction, intensity of satisfaction, a willingness to write a letter or sign a petition, and a willingness to pay more taxes. As we see from Table 3, there is an overwhelming degree of satisfaction. Eighty-two percent of the respondents state thay are satisfied with the payment of Social Security taxes. When questioned further about their degree of satisfaction, 89.9% say that they would be opposed to spending cutbacks in Social Security. Further, those respondents TABLE 3 Probability of Specific Attitudes and Actions Given Satisfaction or Dissatisfaction with Paying Social Security Taxes: Overall and Broken Down by Age Satisfied Dissatisfied Percentage in group 81.5 Percentage in group 18.2 18-34 years 81.3 18-34 years 18.7 35-49 19.4 35-49 20.6 50-64 80.8 50-64 19.2 65+ 87.8 65+ 12.2 If sati.$ed probability of. ffdtisatis$ed, probability of. opposing spending cut 89.9 opposing increase 60.1 18-34 years 86.3 18-34 years 59.4 35-49 91.0 35-49 57.7 50-64 90.8 50-64 11.8 65+ 96.9 65+ 44.4 being willing to write a letter or sign a petition 18-34 years 35-49 50-64 65+ 17.2 72.0 71.0 81.6 86.2 being willing to write a letter or a letter or sign a petition 18-34 years 35-49 50-64 65+ 43.3 40.5 46.2 55.6 11.1 being willing to pay more taxes 71.2 being willing to decrease taxes 26.7 18-34 years 13.3 18-34 years 29.7 35-49 75.0 35-49 30.8 50-64 13.7 50-64 33.8 65+ 58.5 65+ 11.1 Public Support for Social Security 347 who are satisfied are quite willing to stand behind their beliefs: 77.2% would write a letter or sign a petition to their representative in Congress and 7 1.2% would pay higher taxes. Although we have no way of knowing for certain whether the respondents would actually perform these acts, considerable evidence suggests two major conditions under which attitudes are closely related to behaviors: (1) when the attitudes are “behavioroid”; and (2) when they are specific in their referent (Fishbein and Ajzen 1975; Kelman 1974). Two of our support measures are clearly behavioroid, being based on a willingness to pay taxes and to sign petitions or write letters. In addition, respondents were not asked their opinions about global social welfare programs (e.g., “welfare”) as in some attitude surveys (Smith 1987). Instead, they were asked questions about their willingness to act in support of a specific program, Social Security. Such behavioroid and referent-specific measures are better predictors of support than more affect-laden measures of attitudes, although, of course, no behavioroid measure perfectly predicts actual behaviors. Dissatisfied respondents are less likely to feel strongly about their beliefs than respondents who express satisfaction with payment of taxes. Only 43.3% would write letters or sign petitions, and only 26.7% want their taxes decreased. When asked why they are dissatisfied, 37.8% say they fear that Social Security will not be available for them when they retire. The remaining respondents have various grievances against the program, the most common being a belief that individuals could do better investing their own money in private pension plans (18.9%) and that too many people are receiving benefits who do not really need them (15.6%).