Polls Show Mixed Results For President's Health Care Reform Efforts

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NPR reports: "President Obama's plan to make a rare address to a joint session of Congress next Wednesday has been characterized as an all-in effort to shore up support for his attempt to overhaul the nation's health care system. After a month of rancorous town hall meetings, partisan advertisements, fearmongering and viral e-mails, it's clear that the president needs the bully pulpit to revive his effort."

"It turns out that August did not destroy public support for Obama's overhaul," according to NPR. "However, it did harden the resolve of skeptics." NPR reports that a poll by the Pew Research Center for People and the Press found about "46 percent of those surveyed in late August said they generally oppose the handful of health care bills now before Congress; 39 percent voiced general support for the bills. A month earlier, the margin was 44 percent opposed, 38 percent in favor. ... Though the Pew study found that support remained steady, a CNN/Opinion Research poll released Wednesday showed more volatility.

"At the end of August, 51 percent opposed what CNN pollsters described to survey-takers as 'Obama's plan to reform health care,' with 48 percent in favor. The poll's July margin was 50 percent in favor, 45 percent opposed" (Halloran, 9/3).

The Chicago Tribune reports on the views of Illinois residents: "Few Illinois voters are seeing much positive about President Barack Obama's proposed health-care overhaul, with three out of four saying their medical coverage would stay the same or bring 'change for the worse' to medical benefits for them or their families, according to a Tribune/WGN poll. ... Public anxiety, fueled in part by an election-style advertising blitz, has mobilized Republicans and lessened the likelihood of a bipartisan deal" (Japsen, 9/4).

This information was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at kaiserhealthnews.org.

© Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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