There is a lot of misconception here on both sides. Here's the truth.
1. FWD traction is inferior, except perhaps in the case of accelerating. Asking the front tires to handle "pulling" and "turning" as well as braking or accelerating means that the front tires will reach their saturation point sooner than if the duties were split between front and rear. This is true whether the pavement is dry, wet, or snowy.
2. It doesn't matter how you are sliding, when you can't control it, you can't control it. But the failure mode of a FWD car is "better" for two reasons; a) If you plow straight ahead into a collision, you take full advantage of the car's crumple zones, unlike when you slide sideways into it, and b) the instinctive reaction of most people when they start to slide is to lift off the gas pedal. In a nose-heavy, FWD car, the car will (almost always) slow down in a nice straight line until the grip returns. In an oversteer condition, it is possible to exacerbate the problem by lifting (lift-throttle oversteer), and oversteer is more likely in a RWD car because it's more likely that the rear tires will break loose first, especially rounding a corner and speeding up at the same time.
My own experience is with two different RWD cars, and several FWDs. I never had any trouble driving my 74 Capri on slippery roads. The rear would move around, but I knew how to bring it back in, and that car was very easy to control, even without fancy electronics. My Beetles were a different story. With their rearward weight bias, they would just feel twitchy all the time on snowy or slushy roads. I felt more confident with my FWDs, but that didn't save me from plowing into the curb a couple winters ago. (Yes, I was going too fast in slush
) I let off the gas, and the car just kept going, and going... I was glad to be on the outside of the curve, at least, and not plowing into the oncoming lanes.
Bottom line: Slow down in the snow, no matter which wheels are driving.
