WASHINGTON (AP) – Treasury Secretary John Snow acknowledged Wednesday that the Bush administration hasn’t yet succeeded in selling its Social Security plan to Americans.

Republicans are taking the issue to the states. Some, like Snow, are pitching the president’s plan. Others are deciding whether to buy into it themselves.

“We still have some work to do,” Snow said.

Members of Congress, home for an extended break this week, are holding town hall meetings across the country with constituents, gauging sentiment on President Bush’s plan to create private accounts in Social Security.

Undecided lawmakers say their constituents are largely undecided as well.

Rep. Bob Beauprez, R-Colo., said the issue comes up at nearly every event he has attended this week, and people seem convinced the system’s problems are real.

“But the anxiety is still: How are they going to fix it? Are they really going to fix it, or just screw it up?” Beauprez said.

Strategists believe the key to winning the congressional debate over Social Security lies in convincing Americans that the existing system is in trouble and change is needed. The goal is to get the people to pressure their representatives in Congress to take action.

Then, as this pressure builds on Congress, backers hope more Republicans and at least some Democrats will support a comprehensive plan, which is likely to include benefit cuts, tax hikes or other painful choices that Bush and his allies gloss over in their speeches.

Lawmakers uncommitted to the Bush plan make it clear this will not be easy.

Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., said his constituents like the president, but they are quick to caution him: “Now don’t you go supporting him automatically just because you’re a Republican and he’s a Republican. Remember, you represent us.”

“You can’t put me in the support column or the nonsupport (column),” said Rep. Katherine Harris, R-Fla. “I have to know what the solution is before I can make an intelligent opinion about it.”

Social Security’s troubles are largely demographic. Beginning as early as 2018, the Depression-era retirement system will start paying out more in benefits than it collects in taxes. By 2042, the system will have exhausted the surpluses being built up now, and will only collect enough to pay about 73 percent of promised benefits, according to the program’s trustees.

Bush has said a variety of ideas for fixing the problem are on the table though he doesn’t endorse any of them.

He prefers to talk about his plan for private accounts, where younger workers could divert a portion of their payroll taxes and invest the money in the stock market. Private accounts do nothing to make the system more solvent, but supporters back them for other reasons.

At campaign-style events around the country, Bush stresses the system’s problems and the benefits of personal accounts. And he repeatedly offers reassurance that people over age 55 will not be affected by changes.

Snow will bring the same message this week to Florida, home to millions of senior citizens, many of whom rely on Social Security. Previewing his two-day trip, he said he understands Congress has been leery about creating personal accounts, but predicted opinions will change as people learn more.

“We’re at the early stages of this education process and engagement process,” Snow told reporters. “We’re going to hit this hard. We’re going to get the facts out. We’re going to … engage with the American people on the fundamentals of Social Security.”

He plans to campaign for the Bush plan at a pair of Chamber of Commerce events, in interviews on morning and afternoon drive-time radio and with editorial boards of newspapers in Tampa, St. Petersburg and Jacksonville.

Bush also is getting a lot of help from outside organizations. Interest groups backing the accounts have organized to make sure supporters show up at town hall meetings. In some cases, they hope to persuade wavering lawmakers; in others, they want to support those who already favor the accounts but might face opposition from constituents, said one official involved with the lobbying effort.

Both Republicans and Democrats sent their members home with talking points and pages of data on Social Security to prove their points.

House Democrats have scheduled more than 100 town halls this week and another 250 within the next month, aides said.

Nearly all Democrats in Congress have said they oppose diverting money from Social Security to pay for personal accounts, and many Republicans have expressed skepticism as well. It wasn’t clear if any of them have changed their minds this week.

“There is pretty large awareness that there’s a problem on the horizon, that it’s out there. But probably with great justification, as soon as the government starts saying, “We’re going to fix it,’ people get nervous,” Beauprez said. “I hope that we can leave the doors as wide open as we possibly can.”