Poll: Most Say Health Care Fight About Politics, Not Policy

CBS

Poll analysis by the CBS News Polling Unit: Sarah Dutton, Jennifer De Pinto, Fred Backus and Anthony Salvanto.

Americans believe that both Republicans and Democrats were fighting about health care reform because of politics, not policy, a new CBS News poll finds.

Asked why Democrats worked to pass a health care bill, 57 percent said "mostly political reasons." Just 35 percent said it was because Democrats think the bill is good policy.

Americans had an even more cynical view of Republican motivations: Sixty-one percent said Republicans were acting on the basis of political concerns, while 29 percent said Republicans truly believed the bill was bad policy.

While partisans on both sides tended to think their party was acting out of policy concerns, independents were overwhelmingly likely to say that both parties were simply playing politics.

While the approval rating for both parties' handling of health care has risen, it remains low. Thirty-two percent of American approve of how Congressional Democrats are handling health care, an increase of seven points from October. But sixty percent disapprove.

For Congressional Republicans, meanwhile, their approval rating on health care stands at just 25 percent, up from 17 percent in October. Their disapproval rating is 64 percent.

The poll was taken from March 18-21, before the bill passed the House on Sunday. Both parties will be watching to see if and to what degree passage changes perceptions of both the bill and the two parties that spend much of the last year fighting over it.

More From the Poll:

Low Favorability Ratings For Pelosi, Reid

Most Give Obama Credit for Health Care Bill

Read the Complete Poll

With the economy and the lagging employment rate topping the list of concerns for Americans, there is a perception that Congress spent too much time on the health care fight. Forty-six percent say too much time was spent on the issue, while 28 percent said more time should have been spent.

Just one in five said Congress spent the right amount of time debating health care reform.

As for the debate over the bill, a majority of Americans say it made no difference to the final product. Just 15 percent said the debate improved the legislation, while 27 percent said the debate ultimately made it worse.

The debate seems to have driven down the overall approval rating of Congress. One year ago, 30 percent approved of the legislative body. By January, that had slipped to 23 percent. Last month it fell to 15 percent, and in the latest poll it stands at 14 percent. Seventy-six percent of those surveyed say they disapprove of the job Congress is doing.

It has also driven negative perceptions of Washington. More than half of those surveyed said the health care debate made them "more pessimistic" about Washington, while just 14 percent said it made them more optimistic. Twenty-eight percent said the debate made no difference.

Asked if their opinion of the health care bill matched up with that of their representative, more than half of those surveyed said they weren't sure. One in four said no, while 18 percent said yes.

One in four said their representative's vote on the bill would make it more likely they would support them in the November midterm elections. A higher percentage -- 31 percent -- said the vote would make it less likely that they would support their representative. Four in ten said it would not make a difference.

Views of the Bill:

CBS

Before the House vote Sunday, nearly half of Americans, including eight in ten Republicans, said they disapproved of the health care bill. One in three "strongly disapproved."

Thirty-seven percent, meanwhile, offered their approval -- including one in four who "strongly approved."

Americans were not optimistic about the impact the bill will have. While 29 percent said reforms in the bill will make the health care system better, 34 percent said they would make the system worse. Twenty-eight percent said they weren't sure, while eight percent predicted no change.

Despite Democrats' effort to stress that the bill will (eventually) make insurance companies provide coverage for people with preexisting conditions, just 53 percent of respondents said they believed it would do so. Thirty-one percent said it would not.

There was also widespread skepticism that the bill would help control the costs of health care premiums, with 37 percent saying it would and 50 percent saying it would not.

One in two Americans, including most Democrats and independents, said the bill would lead to too much government involvement in health care. Twenty-eight percent said it meant the "right amount" of government involvement and 14 percent said it would not offer enough.

Just one in five said the bill would help them personally. Thirty-five percent said it would hurt them, while another 28 percent predicted it would have no effect.

Most say they don't quite understand what's in the bill, however: Asked if they understand how reforms will affect their family, more than half said no and that the bill is confusing.

Slightly less than half of those surveyed said they had followed the health care debate "somewhat" closely, while another 28 percent said they followed the action "very" closely. Roughly one in four said they did not follow the debate very closely or at all.

Republicans were most likely to say they had followed the debate very closely.

This poll was taken as part of CBS News' "Where America Stands" series, an in-depth look at where the country stands today on key topics and an outlook for the future decade.

More Coverage of Health Care Reform:

Nine Events That Led to Health Care Reform
Analysis: Health Care Debate Shows Ideological Split
Health Care Bill Passed the House, But Battles Ahead in Senate, Court
Washington Unplugged: Obama's Next Task Is Selling the Health Care Bill
Health Care Reform: Which Party Comes Out on Top?
"Baby Killer" Remark Came From Randy Neugebauer
House Passes Health Care Bill
Health Care Bill: What's In It?
Rush Limbaugh: "America is Hanging by a Thread"
Palin: Health Care Vote a "Clarion Call" to Action
CBSNews.com Special Report: Health Care

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This poll was conducted among a random sample of 1059 adults nationwide, interviewed by telephone March 18-21, 2010. Interviewing was continued Sunday until the House of Representatives voted on the legislation. Phone numbers were dialed from random digit dial samples of both standard land-line and cell phones. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus three percentage points. The error for subgroups is higher. This poll release conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.

[pygsty]

I don't think it is about politics but do believe it is because NO ONE knows what all is in it. Things done in secret usually come back to bite ones self

[piBen11]

Why do people like pygsty, keep saying that things are done in secret? Where on earth do you get that notion? Do you expect Congress to invite you to the room when writing the Bill? I would think that those who had business being there were there or invited. In my opinion, nothing was done in secret. Usually, Bills are written by a selected number of the members and revealed thereafter. That is exactly what was done in this case. You can only claim that things are done in secret because republicans have been spouting that as their mantra.

[bradkt1]

The public is smarter than a lot of people think. They know that this is about politics.

[piBen11]

The truth,bradkt1, is that it may be politics to the Republicans but policy to Democrates. They ran on the promise to do this and they have done it. Seriously, it would have been a disaster for them if they had gone back on their words!

[Confidential416]

I absolutely support this health care reform bill and I applaud Stupak for his courage to support the bill while protecting the unborn child. Obama did the right thing.... and although the Republicans cry foul, I would like to remind them that Since 1980, 17 of 23 reconciliation bills have been signed into law by Republican presidents. Since 1980, reconciliation has been used nine times when Republicans controlled both the House and the Senate, six times when Democrats controlled both the House and the Senate, one time when the Democrats controlled the Senate and the Republicans the House, and seven times when the Republicans controlled the Senate and the Democrats controlled the House. The only different aspect from this and Bush's usage is that Obama posed a genuine effort to get bipartisan support.

[pygsty]

You have to be kidding.

[noloyalisti]

We have an extremely corrupt system of corporate bribery here in the US, we call it Democracy. Of all the ridiculous, twisted things to call a country essentially run by the Mob.

[noloyalisti]

This bill is only slight INSURANCE reform because the rich, greedy big corporations have been raping and pillaging us on health care for 50 years.

This is actually a corporate bill. It certainly is NOT health care reform which is what we really need. We need full blow government run health care (Medicare for All).

[jacVA]

The fact of the matter is it was put together loosely, plan and simple. You cannot write laws into place and leave this much wiggle room. When you do it leaves an opening for the government whether they be Dem or Rep (in the future) to take advantage of the peoples freedoms. This is not the way it is done properly. I am neither liberal nor conservative and logic says this smells like trouble. Too many smoke and mirrors.

[thebob-bob]

Remember the hysteria. Remember the dire predictions. Nothing short of a Totalitarian Socialist Dictatorship!!! 80-85% of Americans will see no difference between now and election day. Destruction of America and Freedom!!!
Weeks, months will go by and America will still be here, free as ever ...except that more will have health insurance and fewer will have it taken away by insurance companies after they've paid for years and then gotten sick.

Those whackjobs who only listen to Glen "Social Justice Christians are really Commies" Beck will be digging Fox holes anticipating the overthrow of America by radical Socialist Muslims from Hawaii with degrees from Harvard Law and secret political training from the Institute of Chicago Machine Politics while the rest of America continues the recovery from 8 years of disastrous non-governing by the Republicans.

Life goes on. Republicans become more and more annoying and irrelevant.

[rwassel]

Question: Why can't the Republican Party at least be the "Party of No, but Here is an Alternative Solution"?

Answer: Because any health care reform would lessen the stranglehold that insurance companies have on consumers. And we all know that Republicans are in their back pocket.

[velma179]

One -- our country is governed by elections, not opinion polls. I don't recall the Constitution giving Gallup or Rasmussen any shout out, do you?

But, if you want to accept the premise that any ONE poll can gauge the "temperature" of the American people -- the electorate specifically -- at any given time, please take a moment to consider the entirety of this polls findings. With an objective eye, you will have a better understanding of where the American public truly stands on this issue.

48% Disapprove passage of HCR (= THIS Health Care Reform)
37% Approve
15% Don't Know

When you look into the numbers more carefully, you see that the disapproval number includes those on the far left of the political spectrum that don't think this goes far enough (aka: public option or single payer, etc.).
If the Republicans running for office think these people will vote for them based on their opinions on HCR, they are very wrong.

Then we have the 15% that don't know. This is the segment that is currently in play -- and the advantage is for approval. Why? Because there is a concrete piece of legislation that can be used to give them answers based on facts, rather than political posturing with the attendant dire predictions and misleading suppositions.

When you read what is said on many comment boards, it is so clear that the greatest percentage of those opposed to the legislation using the right wing ideology do not know what is in the new law. They still think it is like the Canadian or British system. It is not. They use terms like "government takeover" and "socialism", not to mention revolution, civil war, secession, and the horrific personal attacks against those that are different from them. This will not play well with that segment of voters that are not politically active. (I have seen this in my own family... not caring so much about HCR, but being sincerely ticked off at the use of personal attacks by loud, obnoxious protesters -- as seen on TV!)

Yep, I declare -- you can put the majority of that 15% who don't have an opinion now, into the approve column by November (say 12%). Add the (approx) 5% from the 48% that disapprove for left wing reasons and you have a 54% approval rating -- just about the same number among the coalition of voters who actually voted... that gave the Obama his job.

And of course, since all politics is local -- I wouldn't be counting on any more than locally significant changes in (D)'s to (R)'s or vice versa. I predict Republicans will gain seats, but not majorities in both Houses. The Senate would be the more likely, but if this was to occur, it would not be a super-majority of 60.
Wishful thinking doesn't change the make-up of our electorate in each individual district and state. Period.


_______________

Note: The idea of repeal is nothing but a tactic to separate your money from your wallet. It is all about your donation to the cause. The cause itself is virtually impossible.
Even if by some fantastical possibility, ONLY 37% of the population supported the Democrats across the country, that is enough to guard against a veto proof Republican majority. And 2012 is politically ... a long time away. You doubt this? Look at the state of the Republican party on 1-20-09 and the way they have gathered support. Do you really think that COULDN'T evaporate?... or that Democrats couldn't do the same? Get real, please.

Really, I am trying to help you save your hard earned money for things that are possible. Take care.

[Michael_Brand]

I'm wondering how all the democrat voters/supporters will feel about their government controlled healthcare when/if sarah palin is president.