A new Harris Poll finds that large numbers of people either believe damaging misinformation about the health care proposals being discussed in Washington or are not sure what to believe. The polls also shows that almost half of all adults continue to support what they see as President Obama’s health care reform proposals, significantly but not substantially more than oppose them. And, more people like the president’s proposals than like what they think the Democrats in Congress are proposing, and much more than what they think Republicans in Congress want.
These are some of the results of The Harris Poll® of 2,334 adults surveyed online between September 8 and 15, 2009 by Harris Interactive®.
Among the key findings:
- 49% to 41% plurality of adults supports what they see as President Obama’s proposals for reform, virtually unchanged from the 49% to 40% plurality that supported them in August. The numbers who are not sure have fallen from 29% in January and 20% in July to only 10% now, with most of those people now opposed.
- A slender 53% to 47% majority think that the president’s proposed reforms are good rather than bad. This is better than the 46% who think that the proposals coming from the Democrats in Congress are good and much better than the 35% who think that proposals coming from Republicans in Congress are good.
Misinformation about the president’s proposals is widespread and many people are not sure whether or not some of the stronger criticisms are valid. Specifically: