Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s description of Social Security as a “Ponzi scheme” is drawing lots of criticism from rival candidates Mitt Romney, Michele Bachmann, and Newt Gingrich. But so far at least, it’s not drawing much criticism from the voters most affected by the issue.
In a new CNN poll that finds Perry at the front of the Republican pack, the Texas governor’s lead among GOP voters age 65 and older is actually bigger than his lead among younger voters. Fifty-two percent of respondents over 65 say Perry is their choice for president, versus just 21 percent who choose Romney. In the overall numbers, Perry leads Romney 32 percent to 21 percent, with Ron Paul following at 13 percent, Bachmann and Gingrich at seven percent each, Herman Cain at six percent, and Jon Huntsman and Rick Santorum at two percent each.
Republican voters over 65 also believe Perry has the best chance of defeating President Obama in next year’s general election. Perry leads Romney 58 percent to 22 percent among older voters on that question.
Breaking down the age results in different categories, Perry leads Romney by 24 percent to 19 percent among GOP voters under 50. Among GOP voters 50 and older, Perry leads Romney by 41 percent to 22 percent.
The results seem likely to encourage Perry to stick with his “Ponzi scheme” critique of Social Security. At the same time, though, Perry might choose to gradually walk away from those incindiery words while leaving his essential assessment of Social Security unchanged. In a new op-ed in USA Today, for example, Perry writes that “Americans deserve a frank and honest discussion of the dire financial challenges facing” Social Security. But he doesn’t use the words “Ponzi scheme.” As for the critics, especially Romney, the results could cut two ways. They might make Romney and others dial back the criticism a bit, on the grounds that it’s not working among the voters most personally interested in Social Security. Or the results might actually encourage the critics to attack Perry more, on the grounds that voters don’t know enough about the “Ponzi scheme” issue and might change their opinion of Perry if they did. The poll results published by CNN poll do not cover the Social Security issue specifically.
The controversy is sure to erupt at tonight’s Republican debate in Tampa. In Florida over the weekend, the Romney campaign distributed a flier hitting Perry hard on Social Security, saying the Texas governor is “reckless and wrong on Social Security.” The headline of the flier is “Two candidates: Only one will protect what’s important to you,” and the last line of the flier is “Rick Perry: How can we trust anyone who wants to kill Social Security?” After attacks like that, Perry will undoubtedly be in the mood to hit back on the debate stage.
