Is Social Security Issue Hurting Perry ?

When Rick Perry jumped into the Republican presidential race he was already popular with the government (and Obama) hating teabaggers that form the majority of the Republican base. This was apparent when he instantly jumped ahead of previous (although weak) frontrunner Mitt Romney. But then Perry jumped squarely on the third rail of American electoral politics -- he came out blasting the Social Security program. He has called it a "Ponzi scheme" and shared his belief that it (along with Medicare) is unconstitutional.

Many more establishment Republicans (such as Karl Rove) have backed off from Perry's position on Social Security, and some have even said it would make him unelectable in a general election. But even though most Republicans have said that electability is the most important thing in the presidential nomination campaign, Perry's position on Social Security has not seemed to have done him any damage among the Republican base. He still has a substantial lead in all the Republican polls.

I don't think the teabaggers really care what Perry's positions on the issues are. They just love his vicious anti-Obama and anti-government positions. But there is some evidence now that Perry's crazy opposition to Social Security is beginning to cost him some support from the general public. A Public Policy Polling survey taken between September 8th and 11th of 665 voters (with a 3.8 point margin of error) shows that in just the last three weeks President Obama has nearly doubled his lead over Rick Perry (while his lead over Romney is virtually the same as before).

The poll shows the public does not agree with Perry's assessment of Social Security. About 70% say Social Security is not a "Ponzi scheme", and a whopping 82% would be against eliminating Social Security. Obviously Social Security is still a very popular program with the general public. Here's how Perry did against the president in the last two PPP polls:

AUGUST SURVEY
Obama...............49%
Perry...............43%

SEPTEMBER SURVEY
Obama...............52%
Perry...............41%

That's a drop from a deficit of 6 points in August to a deficit of 11 points in September. I think voters were expecting Perry to modify his views on Social Security, but he scared many by doubling-down on his opposition to the program in his first debate. Now he's put himself between a rock and a hard place. If he softens his stance on Social Security he will be viewed as a flip-flopper and may anger the teabagger base. If he doesn't than he will further alienate independents and moderates.

An interesting note in this survey is the elderly demographic. Elderly voters favor Romney over Obama by 4 points. But they favor Obama over Perry by 5 points. That's just more credible evidence that his stand on Social Security is hurting Perry's chances to become president. Here's how some of the other Republicans did in the poll against Obama:

Obama...............49%
Romney...............45%

Obama...............53%
Gingrich...............41%

Obama...............53%
Bachmann...............39%

It is interesting that Gingrich does nearly as well as Perry in the current poll, and actually does better than Bachmann -- and the Gingrich campaign has been dead for a month now. The only Republican seen as a viable candidate by the general public is Mitt Romney. I hope the Republicans don't realize this before it's too late. I would much rather see Obama run against Perry or Bachmann.