According to Douglas Schoen (formerly a pollster for President Bill Clinton) and Scott Rasmussen (president of Rasmussen Reports, an independent national polling company), “It is simply wrong for commentators to continue to focus on President Barack Obama's high levels of popularity, and to conclude that these are indicative of high levels of public confidence in the work of his administration”
Relative to healthcare reform, they find that a majority of Americans aren’t so keen after all to have their Uncle Sam become Uncle Sam, MD:
“There is no real appetite for increasing taxes to pay for an expanded health-insurance program. Less than half would support such an idea, which is 17% less than the percentage that supported government health insurance when Bill Clinton first considered it in March of 1993.”
(Their complete opinion piece in today’s edition of the Wall Street Journal can be found here.)
The conclusions reached by Schoen and Rasmussen are completely in line with a poll fielded by the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest last October.
The CMPI survey was of “Millennial” voters (18-28 years old) -- often portrayed as the new “driving force” in American politics. When millennial voters were engaged on the issue of health care reform they had some very strong – and often contradictory – opinions a -- particularly when it comes to issue of “universal care.”
The national public opinion poll of young voters (the result of 1001completed interviews with adults 18-28 years of age who are registered to vote) shows limited acceptance for the potential consequences of greater government control over health care.
While millennial voters report to strongly support the need for reform and the concept of “universal care,” when asked if they are willing to pay higher taxes to pay for a government-run health care system, their level of support swiftly turns in the opposite direction.
Millennial voters are strongly against government-care that results in longer wait times to see a health care provider, limits to the types of treatments and medicines they can access, and the potential for the government to interfere in the decision making and relationship between doctor and patient.
Some germane findings:
* A majority (51 percent) were not in support of any health care reforms that could raise their personal tax burden;
* Sixty-two percent said they would not support any health care reforms that could increase wait-times to see a doctor or the availability of treatments and medicines; and,
* Millennial voters were also equally unsupportive (62 percent) of health care reforms that would increase the role of the government regulation and oversight in doctor-patient decision-making.
(For further details on the CMPI poll, see “The Young and the Restless.”)
The CMPI poll and the findings of Schoen and Rasmussen demonstrate that all sides of the debate need to do a better job educating Americans about how various reform plans will impact the future of our healthcare system.
Nobody said it was going to be easy.
Relative to healthcare reform, they find that a majority of Americans aren’t so keen after all to have their Uncle Sam become Uncle Sam, MD:
“There is no real appetite for increasing taxes to pay for an expanded health-insurance program. Less than half would support such an idea, which is 17% less than the percentage that supported government health insurance when Bill Clinton first considered it in March of 1993.”
(Their complete opinion piece in today’s edition of the Wall Street Journal can be found here.)
The conclusions reached by Schoen and Rasmussen are completely in line with a poll fielded by the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest last October.
The CMPI survey was of “Millennial” voters (18-28 years old) -- often portrayed as the new “driving force” in American politics. When millennial voters were engaged on the issue of health care reform they had some very strong – and often contradictory – opinions a -- particularly when it comes to issue of “universal care.”
The national public opinion poll of young voters (the result of 1001completed interviews with adults 18-28 years of age who are registered to vote) shows limited acceptance for the potential consequences of greater government control over health care.
While millennial voters report to strongly support the need for reform and the concept of “universal care,” when asked if they are willing to pay higher taxes to pay for a government-run health care system, their level of support swiftly turns in the opposite direction.
Millennial voters are strongly against government-care that results in longer wait times to see a health care provider, limits to the types of treatments and medicines they can access, and the potential for the government to interfere in the decision making and relationship between doctor and patient.
Some germane findings:
* A majority (51 percent) were not in support of any health care reforms that could raise their personal tax burden;
* Sixty-two percent said they would not support any health care reforms that could increase wait-times to see a doctor or the availability of treatments and medicines; and,
* Millennial voters were also equally unsupportive (62 percent) of health care reforms that would increase the role of the government regulation and oversight in doctor-patient decision-making.
(For further details on the CMPI poll, see “The Young and the Restless.”)
The CMPI poll and the findings of Schoen and Rasmussen demonstrate that all sides of the debate need to do a better job educating Americans about how various reform plans will impact the future of our healthcare system.
Nobody said it was going to be easy.
