Americans appear split over the president's push for health care reform, a new CNN poll has found. "Fifty percent of those questioned in CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Wednesday morning say they support the president's plans, with 45 percent opposed.
The results indicate a generational divide. "'Obama's plan is most popular among younger Americans and least popular among senior citizens,' says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. 'A majority of Americans over the age of 50 oppose Obama's plan; a majority of those under 50 support it.'"
"The poll (which polled 1,136 adults by telephone) indicates that only three in 10 of all Americans think the president's health care proposals will help their families. Another 44 percent feel they won't benefit but that other families will be helped by the president's plans, and one in five say no one will be helped … In any health care system, tough decisions that affect individual patients — such as which people get certain treatments and which treatments are too expensive or ineffective — must be made. The poll suggests that Americans are split on who they prefer to make such choices, with 40 percent saying it should be the insurance companies and an equal amount feeling that the government should make the call" (Steinhauser, 8/5).