GOP Ads Court Blacks on Social Security

October 18, 2000

The Republican National Committee has begun running advertising on Social Security reform aimed at African Americans, USA Today reports. The ad campaign is aimed at urban voters ages 18-35 who look favorably at investing Social Security contributions in the stock market. Click here to listen to the ad. The Cato Institute/Zogby International poll found African Americans to be strong supporters of reform based on personal retirement accounts. Fifty-eight percent of African Americans surveyed favored changing Social Security into a system of personal accounts, with only 32 percent opposed. Among younger blacks, support is presumably even higher. Moreover, African Americans supported broad privatization, with over half wanting to be able to invest at least 6.2 percentage points of the 12.4 percent total payroll tax, and over one quarter wishing to invest all of it. African Americans favored individual investment over government investment of the trust fund by a margin of five-to-one.

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