WaPo Social Security polling data

Are people for or against the Bush plan? via Instapundit and Qando

For being such a widely read and well read fellow, Mr. Reynolds seems to be missing what the polled appear to understand (I never thought I'd write THAT sentence). There are two issues with Social Security:
  1. Should the government allow individuals to invest in private accounts?
  2. Should the government change the structure of Social Security to prevent a short fall in 2018 (or thereabouts) and incomplete coverage in 2042 (or thereabouts)
Note, the two are totally independent of each other! Wait, that’s not ENTIRELY true. What we do with the first MAY affect what we do in the second, but only because it is likely that doing the first will increase the debt load significantly thereby making more difficult our ability to fund Social Security overall and may shorten the amount of time available to do the second. I do not think that anyone in the administration has ever said that private accounts will help avoid the shortfall, and if they have, they are playing fast and loose with the truth. Interestingly, because Mr. Bush appears to be so successful selling the idea that SS is in crisis, and so ineffective at selling the idea that private accounts are the solution, he’s actually hurting himself more than helping himself with his touring about it.