New NEWSWEEK Poll Confirms: Health Care Divisive, Confusing
Newsweek sent our pollsters out into the field this week and came back with a whole bunch of interesting results. I'll be blogging on it throughout the week, particularly trying to sort out how Obama could best use these findings to best prep for success at the bipartisan health care summit this Thursday (we're pretty sure he's a Newsweek reader, after all). But for now, here's the main take away:
As Democrats struggle to salvage health-care-reform legislation, a new NEWSWEEK Poll shows that while a majority of Americans say they oppose Obama's plan, a majority actually support the key features of the legislation. The findings support the notion that Democrats have not done a good job of selling the package and that opponents have been successful in framing the debate. The more people know about the legislation, the more likely they are to support major components of it.
When asked about Obama's plan (without being given any details about what the legislation includes), 49 percent opposed it and 40 percent were in favor. But after hearing key features of the legislation described, 48 percent supported the plan and 43 percent remained opposed.
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Sarah Kliff covers the intersection of heath and politics for NEWSWEEK, reporting on a range of topics from assisted suicide to federal health care reform to reproductive rights and abortion politics. In the summer of 2009, she profiled embattled, late-term abortion doctor LeRoy Carhart and his plan to open a new clinic in the wake of George Tiller's murder. Sarah is a frequent contributor to the Gaggle, Newsweek's political blog, where she has covered health care reform and the ensuing battle over abortion language.
Sarah joined NEWSWEEK in the summer of 2007 as a health intern. She spent 2008 as the assistant to the national affairs editor, contributing reporting to eight cover stories and spending a week on the road with Vice President Joe Biden, and joined the health team in March 2009. She is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, where she served as editor in chief of her campus newspaper, Student Life, and majored in Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology.
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