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Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Just 34% of voters nationwide support the health care reform plan proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats if the so-called “public option” is removed.The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 57% oppose the plan if it doesn't include a government-run health insurance plan to compete with private insurers.Last week, Rasmussen Reports tracking found that support for the Congressional plan was at 42%.
While the tracking question did not specifically mention the public option, it referred to the bill proposed by the president and congressional Democrats now working its way through Congress. All of the congressional committees that had passed reform legislation included a government health insurance plan.
Therefore, it is reasonable to compare those results with the current polling to measure the potential impact of dropping the public option.
The most dramatic impact is a sharp decline in enthusiastic support.
Without the public option, only nine percent (9%) Strongly support the legislation. The earlier poll found 26% Strongly in favor of it.
That enthusiasm gap is especially significant since the percentage of those opposed to the legislation has consistently been higher.
Last week’s poll found 44% Strongly opposed to the reform legislation. If the public option is dropped, 37% remain Strongly opposed.
The other dramatic shift can be found in the partisan dynamics. Click here to read about the rest of the survey's findings.
And here is the rest of it.
