Views of the health care plan proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats remain largely unchanged since late July. A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey conducted Tuesday and Wednesday nights finds that 44% favor the plan while 53% are opposed. These numbers are little different than those in late August.
However, the overwhelmingly majority of interviews for the new survey were conducted before the president’s speech to Congress Wednesday night. Rasmussen Reports will be tracking support for the proposals on a daily basis over the next several days to measure what impact the speech has on public opinion.
Another measure of the speech impact will be found in the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll.
(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.
The survey results are very similar to earlier data with perhaps a very slight uptick for the president’s team. Twenty-seven percent (27%) now Strongly Favor the plan and 41% Strongly Oppose. In August, those numbers were 23% and 43% respectively.
This is the fourth time in the last five surveys that 53% have registered opposition to the plan.
The lone exception came following a nationally televised press conference the president held in part to promote the plan when opposition dropped temporarily to 49%
The partisan dynamics remain the same as in earlier surveys. While 72% of Democrats favor the health care plan, 81% of Republicans oppose it. As for those not affiliated with either major party, 39% favor the legislative effort while 58% are opposed.
The president has scored some gains in terms of quality and cost concerns. If the plan passes, 29% of all voters say the quality of care will get better and 48% say it will get worse. In August, the numbers were 23% better and 50% worse.
Forty-six percent (46%) say passage of the plan will make the cost of health care go up while 22% say it will make costs go down. The previous survey found 52% thought the plan would lead to higher costs, and only 17% thought it would achieve the stated goal of
lowering costs.
Other recent polling shows that most people with insurance say it’s likely they would be forced to change coverage if the plan passes. 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 provided a summary of public opinion on health care reform leading up to the president’s speech yesterday.
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