Slightly more Americans (44 percent to 41 percent) favor investing some of their Social Security taxes in private accounts versus leaving Social Security essentially as it is, according to the poll, which clearly identified for respondents the risks of each policy approach: the market risk of investing and the insolvency risk of Social Security ahead.

"The fact is that more and more Americans are investors, either outright or through retirement plans at work," Mr. Marron said, adding that 55 percent of adults are in non-Social Security retirement plans and 40 percent are in plans that allow individual discretion over the plan's investment decisions. "They're learning that even the most conservative investments offer a greater return than the approximate 3 percent earned on Social Security receipts. And they ask, 'Is Social Security a retirement plan for me? Or is it a tax?'," he added.

Workers in retirement plans clearly favor Social Security private accounts versus leaving the system as it is, 48 percent to 39 percent. Among workers in retirement plans that allow individual input on investment decisions, 52 percent favor Social Security private accounts, while just over one-third (35 percent) oppose it.

Independent Voters and Women

"Americans who do not identify themselves as either Republicans or Democrats are at a crossroads in their thinking about Social Security and its role in their later-life financial picture," Mr. Marron said. Independent voters are split 42 percent to 42 percent on whether to allow Americans to invest some of their Social Security dollars in private savings accounts or leave the Social Security system essentially as it is.

Fifty-nine percent of Republicans and 37 percent of Democrats favor investing some Social Security dollars privately with market risk and reward.

Like independent voters, American women are similarly split on the Social Security issue, he noted: 42 percent of women favor leaving Social Security essentially as it is while 39 percent are in favor allowing some investment of Social Security funds in private accounts.

"These numbers show that women -- now a majority of the workforce -- are not adverse to looking at reform," Mr. Marron observed. He added that the current Social Security system is unfair to women.

Social Security benefits are calculated based on an individual's years in the workforce, Mr. Marron explained. Women typically have fewer years on the job than men -- as women leave jobs to have and raise children, for example. Their Social Security benefit levels thus tend to be lower. "But women generally need Social Security benefits longer than men do -- because statistically women outlive men," Mr. Marron added. 

In 1999, Mr. Marron was co-chairman of the National Commission on Retirement Policy, a bipartisan panel formed by the Center for Strategic and International Studies to develop a plan for long-term Social Security solvency and more retirement security in America. His co-chairs on the panel -- which heard testimony from more than 40 witnesses in labor, law, accounting, academe, citizen groups and business -- were U.S. Senators John Breaux (D-LA) and Judd Gregg (R-NH), Congressmen Jim Kolbe (R-AZ) and Charles W. Stenholm (D-TX) and former Glaxo Inc. chairman and CEO Dr. Charles A. Sanders.

"America's landscape of retirement planning is fast-changing, and our politics are catching up or will soon," Mr. Marron said. He noted 48 percent of all people aged 35 to 49 favor allowing private investment of Social Security funds in accounts with market risk and reward. But a clear majority, 57 percent, of those 18 to 34 years old favor such a proposal.

"The economics of the Social Security program and the inclinations of the generation coming up are aligned in favor of reform," he noted.

Paine Webber Group Inc. (NYSE: PWJ), together with its subsidiaries, serves the investment and capital needs of a worldwide client base. The firm employs 23,175 people in 385 offices.

SOURCE: Paine Webber Group Inc.

WEB SITE: http://www.painewebber.com/