Poll: Opinions on health care bill differ between two new surveys

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One topic, two polls, and two very different results.

With President Obama’s signature affixed on the health care reform bill two prominent polling organizations have become the first to track the opinions of Americans on the subject. It appears that even after Sunday night’s landmark passage the complexities being voiced by the public continue to mirror those of the bill itself.

Many on the political left were quick to celebrate the results of a new USA Today/Gallup survey that shows a plurality of Americans now believe passage of the health care bill to be a “good idea”. However when asked whether they favor the recent passage of the bill through congress a just released Bloomberg survey finds half the public in opposition. By a 49-40% margin the Gallup poll shows support for the new bill. In a near reversal of those figures meanwhile more oppose than favor health care reform by a 50-38% margin according to Bloomberg.

Interestingly there is a strong similarity between the surveys that contradicts the widely different results between the two. Both Gallup and Bloomberg polled just over a thousand adults nationwide, meaning each gathered information from a virtually identical sample size and used the same classification of citizens. One potentially important difference comes in the time span each survey was conducted. Gallup was able to poll over a thousand individuals all on Monday, March 22nd. That was the day after the House secured enough votes for passage Sunday night. The Bloomberg release on the other hand collected responses over four days from March 19-22nd. Hard to say which poll is a more accurate reflection of the public but the Bloomberg survey failed to account for the immediate reactions of the country in full whereas the Gallup poll, done the day after, may have been bogged down by instant responses to the momentous event.

The Gallup poll shows emotions running high on the health care debate. Slightly more adults are angry (19%) than enthusiastic (15%) upon passage of the new bill. Those closer to the middle of the argument meanwhile lean towards a favorable view of the bill. 35% say they are pleased against 23% who are disappointed meaning that in total half of Americans (50%) evoke good feelings toward health care overhaul against 42% who think ill of it.

President Obama leaves the proceedings with far more positive ratings than either his fellow Democrats or the Republicans in congress, yet his numbers are, at best, similarly lukewarm. 46% of the American public feels the President did a “good” or “excellent” job in addressing the problems with the health care system over the past year. More than half however (51%) feel he did either a “fair” or “poor” job on the topic. Congressional Democrats get good marks from just 32% of the public with 63% viewing their efforts negatively. Republicans fare even worse with little more than a quarter (26%) of Americans giving them high marks for their efforts against 68% pegging them with a mediocre or failing grade on the subject.

Bloomberg backed up their findings with a series of specific questions for American adults. Despite overall rejection from the majority of the public on the passage of this specific bill through congress some 64% either “somewhat” or “strongly” agree with the idea that the government has a role in making sure all citizens have access to affordable coverage. This helps to explain the general feeling of the electorate who are overwhelmingly pro-reform, in some fashion, but mostly against the specific bill that just passed through congress. Also helping to illustrate that point are the slim majority (51%) of Americans polled who believe in the general sentiment that it would be more costly to do nothing about health care than creating a plan to overhaul it. Nearly eight in ten (80%) meanwhile disagree with the concept that health care is currently fine the way it is.

Asking other questions the Bloomberg poll reveals that 60% of the public considers health care a largely private matter that should be taken care of by the specific individual. Grasping the complexities of the subject is also viewed as difficult for most. A whopping 75%, including 49% who strongly agree, think that health care is too complicated a subject and the current proposals were too difficult to understand for most. Modestly more adults (48%) think health care reform will help others more than themselves (43%). By a margin of 53-42% most believe current reform measures add up to a government takeover. Furthermore most Americans approve of immediate action on health care but they do so by a fairly modest 51-47% margin over those who’d prefer to focus on other issues first.