Would Americans Welcome Medicare if it Were Being Proposed in 2009? - Pew Research Center

by Andrew Kohut, President, Pew Research Center - Many Americans are balking again at the prospect of health care reform. This is surprising in light of how much priority the public gave health care as an issue during the presidential campaign, and how critical it was of President Bush's failure to act on this issue. But after a few months of hearing about it, a number of recent polls find the public divided over the health care proposals being considered on Capitol Hill. A late July Pew Research survey found more opposition than support for the health care proposals before Congress. Recent Gallup and NBC/WSJ surveys show the public about evenly split over these proposals. And a CNN poll found a slight plurality favoring "Barack Obama's" plan to reform health care. As the contentious town hall meetings bear out, the opponents of health care reform and those who are following the issue most closely hold more intense feelings than do backers and those who are less engaged.Read More