As I reported last week, the level of displeasure over the recently passed healthcare reform legislation is often overstated. The impetus for that post was the CNN/Opinion Research poll of last week.
There’s another CNN/OR poll this week. Here again is a key data point.
"Thinking about the health care bill that Congress passed this week, which of the following statements best describes your view of what Congress should do in the future? Congress should leave the bill as it is. Congress should make additional changes to increase the government’s involvement in the nation’s health care system. Congress should repeal most of the major provisions in that bill and replace them with a completely different set of proposals." Options rotated
Leave as is……………………………….23%
Increase govt. involvement…..27%
Repeal and replace………………..47%
Unsure……………………………………..3%
So 50% like it or want more govt. involvement.
Another question:
"Which of the following statements best describes your views about the health care bill that Congress passed this week? You approve of the bill becoming law and have no reservations about it. You approve of the bill becoming law but you think it did not go far enough. You disapprove of the bill becoming law but you support a few of its proposals. You disapprove of the bill becoming law and oppose all of its proposals."
Approve, no reservations………………….15%
Didn’t go far enough………………………….27%
Disapprove, but support some of it….31%
Oppose all of it……………………………………25%
Unsure………………………………………………….1%
So 74% like at least some of the reform.
Here’s the way the CNN’s polling director interprets the poll.
The 47 percent who favor "repeal and replace" is significantly lower than the 56 percent who say they disapprove of the bill’s passage last week.
"That’s because opposition to the new law comes in many different forms and not all of them benefit the GOP," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "Some Americans continue to say that they disapprove of the bill because they want even more government involvement in health care than the bill created. Only a quarter are against the entire bill; one in three support at least a few proposals in the new law. [Emphasis added] And a handful of Americans appear to dislike the bill but don’t want Congress to spend any more time on health care."
When will the press get it?
Cross posted on Commonwealth Commonsense.