SurveyUSA has a new poll out which appears to contradict all the naysayers who claim American’s don’t favor the current reform proposal including the public option. In fact, a slight majority does favor the plan and more than 3/4 say a public option is “extremely” or “quite” important. Almost 3/4 even claim to be paying a lot of attention to the debate. Follow the link to see exact questions and cross tabs. Since later questions also indicate that most people have coverage they are happy with, that gives lie to the assumption that people happy with their plan will oppose this reform.
I do want to reiterate that it is NOT my position that we should govern by polls, but they are sometimes instructive regarding what elected officials can get away with. We also keep hearing from our conservative friends that the public does not support this, but that is clearly not the case. This is also the first survey I’ve seen (at least in a while) that asks for people’s opinions on the merits of the proposals rather than about Obama’s handling of the issue or what they think the facts are.
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p>…and that’s telling in itself. Since media organizations are commissioning only those sorts of questions in polls, it indicates yet again that in general the media is more interested in the debate about the debate than the actual policy. In fact, I don’t really blame people for thinking that the policy is not all that popular (even if untrue), because all we hear about incessantly is disruptions at town hall events, which misses the “silent majority” that supports health care reform.
Surely both sides will come up with opinion polls to favor their side. I just know that the eclectic group of people I know are mostly for health care reform. What started as a perk for employment now is a burden for workers and employers as well as the unemployed and self-employed. It is a tradition that outlived usefulness. The system must be revised. Whether or not government is the answer, I don’t know. Certainly it is the only game in town.
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p>With so much money on the table, is it not unexpected that interests in healthcare push for their own good? (Really, though, if the government wanted to create “death committees”, couldn’t they do so now, without healthcare reform? Just redefine “elderly” and “handicapped” to mean “terrorist”). The people I’ve seen at the town meetings seem to be mostly sincere people (yes, with some exception) that are truly concerned about their family interests. Which is the way it should be.
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p>Many of them voted for the President in the hope that his administration would seek change from the disaster that preceded him. Instead they got more bailouts renamed stimulus packages, continuing war without end, the stillborn failure of a viable foreign policy, the failure to honor international law with respect to torture, collapse to big pharma. Now the administration wants to tackle healthcare. I can see that many people are concerned that the citizens will be cheated again. People know that they can’t trust Republicans nor Democrats to protect their interests. The representatives of the people are bought and paid for by the corporate interests. I see no hope for changing the course of the Republican Party. I have some hope the people can get some control over the Democratic Party.
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p>I’m happy to see people get involved.
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p>“Power to the people!”
–“60’s chant.
poll after poll after poll show Americans DO NOT support the current Healthcare Reform Bill from Congress but they are wrong because you find this poll. Makes sense to me… NOT.
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p>I like Rasmussen’s latest but I also like to gauge support bassed on how Obama’s people, Congressmen and Senators are caving. The public option is dead. Wait till the town meetings next week with the new updated $9 TRILLION deficit numbers (over the next 10 years). Get your crazy loony tea bagger insults out again.
I’d like to know what Rasmussen actually asked.
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p>In my opinion, without giving some explanation of what’s in the actual bill (or by keeping things abstract), polls are meaningless. Too many people have bought into the absolute lies about the bill, and too many people are confusing questions about the process with questions about the bill. So, the question itself matters.
total bunk!
I’d need to see the question and the numbers.
(and I couldn’t get the Rasmussen link to load)
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p>All the polls that have either been cited here or that I have seen in my own searches have not asked if the public supports the proposals. They have asked if they approve of Obama’s (or Congress’) HANDLING of this issue. As I’ve mentioned before, that is a very different question, one that I wouldn’t necessarily answer affirmatively myself. Plus the poll I cited was the most recent which I think is important too as opinion may be shifting.
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p>That being said I’m glad to see that you’ve changed your signature from a taunt to a link to a GOP proposal, which is the first time I’ve seen one. I followed the link and while like anything else certainly debatable on the merits, at least it’s an improvement over just saying no.
The gist is 77% support a “choice” but only 43% support an “option.” Bizarre, especially when combined with the allegations that the wording change was pushed by the insurance companies.
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p>Also interesting is the NBC poll showing 62% disapproval for the Republican handling of the issue.
I have seen the loss of support for Obama and Dems in general has NOT converted into support for Republicans. It seems to me the result has been a deteriorating support for Washington and politicians in general. Republicans do have an alternative plan for healthcare reform but it hasn’t gotten zero press. I have been pushing it here for a few days and my guess is nobody has even read it. To me that translates into a common feeling by Dems that you are either in favor of the Dem bill or you are against healthcare reform. Even on the talking shows this AM I got the feeling that both Obama and the Dem leadership are not taking any suggestions on alternative plans and simply paint the Republicans as uncooperative.
The exact question in this survey is, “In any health care proposal, how important do you feel it is to give people a choice of both a public plan administered by the federal government and a private plan for their health insurance–extremely important, quite important, not that important, or not at all important?”
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p>This could be answered affirmatively by both those who are thinking whatever happens it better include a public plan AND those who are thinking whatever happens it better still allow me to choose a private plan. The affirmative responses probably do NOT include those who are adamantly opposed to one or the other. If people are saying that it’s important to have both, it is not readily apparent which one they actually prefer. I do think it’s safe to say that the majority to not oppose a public option on principle.
http://www.rasmussenreports.co…
I would just put in the caveat (as I believe the article refered to) that some see the debate as so tarnished that it’s better to just start over next Congress, but not that they are necessarily opposed to reform. I’ve also seen wild swings on single-payer which I can’t explain as there are also polls I’ve seen showing broad support for single-payer.
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p>The figure that indicates people trust insurers over government is baffling to me; I see government as much more accountable and every plan for reform I’ve seen (including your link and certainly any “government” plan) calls for reducing the chances that you’ll be denied care. I’ve said all along that assuming (which I’m not sure I do) the choice between a government bureaucrat accountable to the people and an insurance bureaucrat who gets rewarded based on profits, I’ll take the government in a heartbeat.
…the VA is a great system, though MGH is excellent as well. Again, however, your conflating coverage with the actual care. MGH is NOT an insurance agency. Like anyplace else I’m sure they’d take care of ER visits. If they are reluctant to do something it’s only because an INSURER said they wouldn’t pay for it!
A computer glitch mistakenly led more than 1,200 veterans to believe they had a fatal illness. According to the National Gulf War Resource Center, the Veterans Affairs Department erroneously sent out letters to veterans telling them they had “a diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis,” or ALS, otherwise known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
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p>As a result, the Gulf War veterans group was barraged by phone calls from veterans concerned that they had a terminal illness. “Many of these veterans went to private clinicians to get a second opinion. This second opinion outside of the VA is very expensive and can range from $1,000 to $3,000 or more,” the center said in a written statement on its Web site.
Nobody has said otherwise.
MoveOn.org – thanks but no thanks!
SurveyUSA is a reputable polling firm that uses sound statistical methods. I doubt the respondants were informed of the sponsorship. The key to any skewing would be wording the questions. I think the questions were worded appropriately, but if you object to that factor specifically let us know.
SurveyUSA is a national polling outfit. They do loads of polls. That MoveOn paid for it in no way implies that SurveyUSA acted inappropriately.
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p>Unless you have any kind of evidence to suggest the contrary (like a history of them leaning one way or the other, or a statistical trend where they leaned on the side of their contract… your protest is weak.
Be honest and tell me how much credence you would give to a Fox News poll. Go to Rasmussen and check their polls.
Actually, I’d still have to see the actual questions and methods to really judge. Who’s doing the actual polling? Fox News SPONSORING a poll using a reputable firm and methods and reasonable questions would probably be fine. Fox News CONDUCTING a poll itself, however, would raise red flags in my mind.
Most people on this site would not take anything from a Fox News poll no matter how it is conducted. Just like most people in my Elk đŸ™‚ will not believe a poll sponsored by MoveOn.org no matter how it is conducted. But I can always hope there are more open minded people like you.
Story An independent senator counted on by Democrats in the health care debate showed signs of wavering Sunday when he urged President Barack Obama to postpone many of his initiatives because of the economic downturn.
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p>”I’m afraid we’ve got to think about putting a lot of that off until the economy’s out of recession,” said Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman. “There’s no reason we have to do it all now, but we do have to get started. And I think the place to start is cost health delivery reform and insurance market reforms.”