Poll Finds Peril for GOP on Health Care

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

CBS

Republicans' victories in last week's midterm elections were driven in part by their strong opposition to the health care reform legislation, which they promised to "repeal and replace" should they be given the opportunity.

According to the new CBS News poll, many Americans (though not a majority) are on board. Forty-five percent say Congress should try to repeal the law, while 44 percent say lawmakers should not do so. More than three in four Republicans say Congress should aim for repeal.

Before settling on an aggressive push for repeal, however - something that is more or less impossible with a Democrat in the White House - Republicans might want to take a look at another finding in the poll. Asked what the new Congress should concentrate on, just 14 percent of Americans chose health care. That puts the issue far behind jobs and the economy, selected by 56 percent of Americans.

And therein lies the risk for Republicans. Democrats appear to have suffered at the polls because of their decision to focus on health care at a time when the economy was suffering; in a CBS News poll in July, nearly four in ten Americans said the president had spent too much time on health care. In the same poll, more than half said he had spent too little time on the economy.

If Republicans want to avoid a similar criticism, they can't be seen as focusing on health care at the expense of addressing the economy. That's because while many Americans (and most Republicans) are in favor of repeal, relatively few believe health care should be the new Congress' top priority.

Poll: Disenchantment Remains After Midterms

Read the Complete Poll

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This poll was conducted among a random sample of 1,137 adults nationwide, interviewed by telephone November 7-10, 2010. Phone numbers were dialed from RDD samples of both standard land-lines 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.

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Brian Montopoli is a political reporter for CBSNews.com. You can read more of his posts here. Follow Hotsheet on Facebook and Twitter.

[earlysaid]

Republicans will overplay their hand in the House. They will overplay their corporate only policies and their corporate love. All will be way beyond anything good for the country. People will wake up or they will not wake up. It may be just the way they allowed Bush to damage and destroy so much, so many lives and so much of what harmed our economy and the financial stability of America. Republicans are so likely to call regulations job killers. What regulations do is keep workers safe and also the public safe. Greed and corruption is so easy for greedy and corrupt. We can't trust corporations to treat workers well and provide them safety. We have to have oversight and requirements employees are treated well in safe conditions. We have to make sure that our air is not ruined, that our water is not polluted, and that our land is not contaminated. It is now war to keep companies from harming our environment.

[Multi-Basking]

John Bohner held up the GOP's health care plan in a book in front of the cameras about a year ago. Were the pages empty? Was it actually "My Pet Goat"? Where is it?

[earlysaid]

Once the health benefits for Americans in Health Care Reform become known more and more will know this is good for the country. Republicans colluded with the health care industry against better health care. The GOP has great government health care. They just don't care that people desperately need better health care all over the country. People really like the benefits that are consumer protections. We like that college students and young people can stay on parents health insurance until 26. We like that there are no longer pre-existing exclusions for coverage. We like that there is now no yearly limits on costs. Everyone of these good benefits are in the Health Care Reform that the GOP and their surrogates fearmongered and lied about. The Health Care Industry makes billions and they have been very determined to act hatefully toward people they dropped when they got sick and needed their health care desperately. When it comes to compassion and decency it will be from Democrats. Hopefully we will not have health care reform torn to shreds by these republicans.

[hamsterattack]

the GOP basically wants the elderly, the poor and middle class to die quickly, inexpensively and needlessly...

[RobAla]

You should state a few facts, if you make an accusation. The Republicans were not responsible for the stinking health care bill, a bill that will increase cost in health care for the majority of Americans. It was Democrats this year that cut $500 billion from Medicare. If we were to move to a government single payer health care system (like Europe), like some suggest - I am afraid we would adopt the "quality of life" measurements that would determine whether people qualify for surgeries (as suggested by Democrat Tom Daschle). The government is not more compassionate than a private insurance company, and the government would have to deal with limited funds and coverage also. In other words, those who would benefit the most from the surgery would get it - and others would not. For example: an 18 year old (with no other complications) would get the surgery, but an elderly or disabled person would not. I don't see one political party as being more compassionate than another.

[RobAla]

This is pure crap. Below are the real figures from a number of polls on the subject of this stupid health care bill:

Poll Date Sample For/Favor Against/Oppose Spread
RCP Average 8/27 - 11/14 -- 40.0 51.5 Against/Oppose +11.5
Rasmussen Reports* 11/13 - 11/14 1000 LV 37 58 Against/Oppose +21
Associated Press/GfK 11/3 - 11/8 1000 A 38 47 Against/Oppose +9
Pew/National Journal* 10/21 - 10/24 1006 A 41 51 Against/Oppose +10
Bloomberg* 10/7 - 10/10 721 LV 42 47 Against/Oppose +5
Politico/GWU/Battleground* 9/19 - 9/22 1000 LV 42 54 Against/Oppose +12
CBS News/NY Times 9/10 - 9/14 990 A 37 49 Against/Oppose +12
PPP (D) 9/10 - 9/13 590 RV 44 50 Against/Oppose +6
USA Today/Gallup 8/27 - 8/30 1021 A 39 56 Against/Oppose +17

[tallanh]

How would Americans feel if the government stood by doing nothing while 9/11-style attacks were repeated every 2 months? The Institute of Medicine (a branch of the National Academy of Sciences) has found that at least 18,000 Americans die needlessly every year because of the system of healthcare delivery that was in place prior to Obamacare. That is like 9/11 every 2 months. Despite their hypocritical rants, the Republicans have supported death panels for decades. Every time an insurance company denies coverage because of a pre-existing condition, that is a death panel at work. Every time an insurance company produces some lame technical excuse to drop someone from their roles, or to deny a claim, the people who make those decisions are operating potentially as a death panel. People have died because of the status quo. And back when Clinton was making his attempt at reform, Newt Gingrich was asked by a Democratic House member what the Republicans would offer in terms of ideas for reform. Newt's answer was that there would be no ideas offered. Instead, Republicans would "defeat" all reform efforts and retake power in the next election. Newt, and Republicans in general, have blood on their hands. And in the intervening years when Republicans were in power, reform was not even whispered as a consideration. People who could be alive today are dead because of this attitude, and the only ones who have benefited are the insurance company executives with their well-padded bank accounts, and their lackeys in the Republican Party.

[RPVG]

If you let me write the questions, I'll get you any poll results you want.

What most Americans want (according to other polls) is to "Repeal and Replace" ObamaCare with something more reasonable. Curiously, that was not an option in this poll.

[hakori]

RPVG, tells us what is "more reasonable". What was finally passed was a bill very simular to what the GOP proposed in the 1990's, and far more conservative that what Richard Nixon proposed in the 1970's. This is krap and you probally don't know it because you've been brainwashed by they likes of Beck, Limbaugh, Palin and FNC. The GOP's idea of compromise is the same as a spoiled whining brat. It's your way or the frickin highway. I got news for you, that's not how a democracy works for very long. It's always the dems who have to give....NOT ANY MORE!!!!!! You're pathetic embloden party is about to over play their hand and maybe finally the American people will wake up to their tricks. That is if the democratIC party will finally get the clue that Americans actually respond to SPINE.

[RobAla]

Income tax growth since 1913:
1913: Highest bracket was 7% filing jointly
2010: Highest bracket is 35% filing jointly
1993 ? 2000: Highest bracket was 39.6% filing jointly

So, do we want to go back to the tax rates prior to President Bush, where some people had to pay about 40% of their income in federal income taxes (this does not include state income taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, and fees such as car tags, utility taxes, gasoline tax, driver license fees, ?etc)? Look at where taxes began, and where they have gone. Does anyone think Americans in 1913 would have allowed the income tax if they thought people would be paying as much as 40% of their income in federal income tax? I doubt it. Since the 1930?s, the federal government has grown massively, and it has sucked massive amounts of wealth from American taxpayers. Yet, it was never satisfied. To date, the federal government has grown to the point of spending $13.3 trillion more than it has been able to confiscate from the American public. Now, responsible Americans are talking about reducing the size of the federal government ? and some people are against it ? apparently they want this ravenous trend to continue. Law makers say the have no idea how to go about reducing the size of the federal government. How can we manage without a massive federal government? Well, we did for a long time. I see no reason to return the highest tax bracket to 39.6%, as 35% should be more than enough for any couple to pay. Extend President Bush?s tax cuts permanently for all.

The latest CBO figures estimate that the health care bill will cost American taxpayers more than $1 trillion over 10 years. Repealing this law would be a first step in bringing the spending of the federal government under control. We wouldn?t even miss it, because it is just now being implemented. States would not have to be burdened by the health care bill requirement of taking on far greater expenses in providing Medicare. The majority of Americans will see the cost of health care rise under this bill, and I doubt many would miss this expenditure. Repeal of the bill would be a good start.

[jaykay3141]

Costs are going up no matter what. The majority of Americans will pay more, too, if insurance companies are allowed to continue raising premiums and cutting coverage without any controls to rein them in. People who lose employer-sponsored insurance and have to buy on the open market or pay out of pocket will see their costs go up astronomically.

The extreme right keeps screaming about repealing the bill to preserve "freedom" and "the American way". I guess that means the freedom to go bankrupt if you get hit with a catastrophic illness, the freedom to be denied care if you have anything that can be construed as a pre-existing condition, the freedom to go without insurance if you're a student or a new graduate working for a small company, and the freedom to pay more for less care than any other country on the planet while enriching Big Pharma and Big Insurance. Yup, in the contorted world of the tea-hadists, that's their view of what America should be: of the corporations, by the corporations, and for the corporations.

[RPVG]

"... Does anyone think Americans in 1913 would have allowed the income tax if they thought people would be paying as much as 40% of their income in federal income tax...?"
-------------------
Of course not. But back then, we still had a Constitution. As such, federal taxes weren't used for "social programs" because they're not authorized by Article I, Section 8 nor the 10th Amendment. Americans at the time understood this. As you point out, it wasn't until the 1930's (when FDR ignored the Constitution and threatened the Supreme Court if they objected) that federal taxes (and spending) got out of whack.

Before FDR, it was understood that the states attend to "social programs" (just as Massachusetts recently did with its health care laws). The federal government had few powers, mostly directed toward our relations with foreign governments. The states had many powers, mostly directed toward the welfare of the people. This was the view of the Founders as expressed in the Federalist Papers.

As you also point out, this worked great for a LONG time -- until FDR hired people like Stuart Chase (a self-called communist) to design the New Deal. The number of communists in Roosevelt's cabinet (and in Hollywood) opened the door for McCarthyism is the early 50's. After that, it's been "Cultural Marxism" up to today.

[ws3993]

Sure, there are some (a few) good things included in the health care bill. However, the real issue is that the cost of this bill will absolutely bankrupt the United States of America if left in its present form. It is imperative that the new Congress pass enough changes to prevent our total collapse. If that requires a repeal and replacement, then let's go for it. As is, this is the most destructive single piece of legislation that Congress has ever passed.

[RPVG]

"bill will absolutely bankrupt the United States"


Absolutely.

[choiceshaveconsequences]

Our jobs went overseas. Mostly to countries with "socialist" health care. Go figure.

[abbe91]

I like the way you phrased it : countries with "socialist" health care.

As for the economic system, most countries have a mixed economy. Countries which are not capitalist are few, e.g. North Korea, Cuba ...
Even China is a capitalist country, despite what they claim ("communist economy with Chinese characteristics"). So chevyhotrod's slogans do not make much sense.

[robbyr2]

Capitalism= liberty and freedom to die
Socialism= Judeo Christian values

Rich people who get that way without lying, stealing and cheating are as rare as camels getting through the eye of a needle. Unless they inherited it and have just played around all their life. Read your Bible to see how God feels about those who don't share the wealth God gave them with the less fortunate.

[infantryman1968]

Poll Finds Peril for GOP on Health Care


LOL!

Brian Montopoli should take a look at his own poll first!