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Politics : Just the Facts, Ma'am: A Compendium of Liberal Fiction -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sully- who wrote (74078)	9/14/2009 11:38:12 AM
From: Sully-	Respond to of 90947

Health Care Reform Support for Health Care Reform Jumps to 51%, Highest Total Yet Rasmussen Reports Tuesday, September 15, 2009 Support for the health care reform plan proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats continues to grow following the president's speech to Congress last Wednesday night. It has now risen to the highest level yet measured, and, for the first time, shows a slight uptick in support among Republicans and voters not affiliated with either party. Fifty-one percent (51%) of all voters nationwide now favor the plan while 46% are opposed. In June, as the public debate was just beginning, 50% favored the plan and 45% were opposed. Support for the plan fell over the summer and reached a point where 53% of voters opposed it. However, in the days following the president’s speech, support for the plan has been moving up on a fairly consistent basis. Still, the intensity gap continues to favor those who oppose the plan. Currently, 28% Strongly Favor the proposed reform while 38% are Strongly Opposed. (see day-by-day numbers). In late August, 23% were strongly in favor of the plan and 43% were strongly opposed. Rasmussen Reports will continue tracking support for the proposals on a daily basis over the next several days and will release new updates each morning at 9 EDT. It remains to be seen how long the bounce will continue, how high it will go and where the numbers will settle. The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll is another indicator of the speech's impact. Obama has received a personal bounce in his approval ratings since Wednesday. Job Approval ratings are updated each morning at 9:30 EDT. Bounces from a speech take time to develop in part because only about 15% of Americans actually watched it. Most learn about it from the news coverage of the past several days or from discussions with family and friends. Initially, the increases in support were restricted to Democrats. However, today’s update is the first to register modest gains among both Republicans and unaffiliated voters. Forty-seven percent (47%) of unaffiliated voters now favor the plan while 50% are opposed. Those figures include 19% who Strongly Favor the plan and 38% who are Strongly Opposed. Premium Members can see full demographic crosstabs for results released today, Sunday, Saturday, Friday, Thursday and, for comparison, late August. Fifty-five percent (55%) now say that health care reform is at least somewhat likely to pass this year. That’s the highest total yet and includes 19% who say passage is Very Likely. If the plan passes, 34% of voters say the quality of care will get better and 46% say it will get worse. In August, the numbers were 23% better and 50% worse. Forty-two percent (42%) say passage of the plan will make the cost of health care go up while 28% say it will make costs go down. In August, 52% thought the plan would lead to higher costs, and only 17% thought it would achieve the stated goal of lowering costs. Other polling prior to the president's speech shows that most people with insurance say it’s likely they would be forced to change coverage if the plan passes. Scott Rasmussen, president of Rasmussen Reports, highlighted the significance of this issue in a recent Wall Street Journal column: “The most important fundamental is that 68% of American voters have health-insurance coverage they rate good or excellent … Most of these voters approach the health-care reform debate fearing that they have more to lose than to gain.” Voters overwhelmingly believe that every American should be able to buy the same health insurance plan that Congress has. Most favor limits on jury awards for medical malpractice claims and think that tort reform will significantly reduce the cost of health care. Rasmussen Reports last Wednesday provided a summary of public opinion on health care reform leading up to the speech. Nationally televised appearances by the president have typically provided a bounce in the polls that last for a week or two. In all cases but one, the bounce has been positive for the president. Following a nationally televised press conference in August, he received a negative bounce when he commented on an incident involving a black Harvard professor and a white Cambridge policeman. Still, even following that press conference which was intended to promote the health care plan, the president’s appearance temporarily improved support for the legislation. Link