CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – President Bush today returns to New Hampshire, whose residents remain cautious about the Social Security overhaul he plans to promote during his visit.

Bush will talk at the Pease International Tradeport in Portsmouth. Over 2,000 people are expected to attend. The visit is the president’s first to New Hampshire since the November election.

Recent polls suggest not all New Hampshire residents have warmed to the president’s Social Security plan, nor to Bush himself despite his election victory and improvements in the economy.

A poll for the Concord Monitor published last weekend showed 55 percent support for allowing workers to invest a portion of their Social Security taxes in stocks and bonds, as Bush proposes. But support dropped to 19 percent when those in favor were asked if they would back the plan if it meant losing benefits when the stock market dropped.

In a University of New Hampshire poll released Monday, 54 percent called such investments – a centerpiece of Bush’s plan – a bad idea.

The same poll found more residents approving of Bush’s performance than disapproving, however.

Bush narrowly lost the state in the election, and Dante Scala, a political science professor at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, said the president’s re-election didn’t earn him much “political capital” in the state.

“I think it’s a state that’s deeply divided over the president’s performance,” Scala said. “Just the fact that the president won hasn’t changed many peoples’ minds here.”

Bush’s Social Security plan should give New Hampshire Reps. Charles Bass and Jeb Bradley pause, particularly if the issue comes to dominate the next election cycle, Scala said.

“I don’t think either congressman will get on board because Bush says get on board,” he said. “I’m not sure they want the defining issue of the 2006 campaign in their districts to be Social Security.”

Bass spokeswoman Margo Shideler said the congressman believes the time is right to strengthen and modernize Social Security.

“Basically the changing demographics of the work force will not support Social Security as it’s structured now,” she said.

Bradley has not taken a position on Bush’s proposal yet, said spokeswoman Stephanie DuBois.

“Congressman Bradley looks forward to reviewing any legislative proposals that are put forward in the near future,” she said.

Kathy Sullivan, the state Democratic chairwoman, echoed the refrain among Democrats that Bush is exaggerating the problems facing Social Security.

“Does the program need to be tweaked? Yes it does. Is it in crisis? No it’s not,” she said.

State Republican Chairman Warren Henderson disagreed.

“Every year there are more retirees and fewer workers. No one practically disputes the fact that something’s got to be done before the Social Security system becomes insolvent,” he said.