Rasmussen-57% Say Health Care Plan Bad For the Country, 59% Favor Repeal

Voter pessimism towards the new national health care bill has reached an all-time high, while the number of insured voters who feel it will force them to switch their coverage is up 11 points from early last month.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 57% of Likely U.S. Voters say the recently passed health care law will be bad for the country. That’s the highest level of pessimism measured since regular tracking began following Congress' passage of the law in late March. Thirty-two percent (32%) say the health care plan will be good for the United States.

Prior to this survey, belief that the plan is good for the country ranged from 34% to 41%, while those who predict it will be bad for the country range from 49% to 54%.

Yet while 70% of Mainstream voters feel the bill is bad for the country, 80% of the Political Class disagree and see it as a good thing for America.

Fifty-nine percent (59%) of all voters now favor repeal of the health care bill. Thirty-eight percent (38%) oppose repeal. These findings include 45% who Strongly Favor repeal and 28% who Strongly Oppose repeal. Support for repeal has ranged from 52% to 63%, while opposition has ranged from 32% to 42%.

Most Republicans and unaffiliated voters continue to strongly favor repeal of the health care bill and believe it will be bad for the country. Democrats, on the other hand, have remained supportive of the bill and feel it will be positive for the country.

The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on July 30-31, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC.

An overwhelming majority (77%) of those with health insurance rate their coverage as good or excellent, while only seven percent (7%) say it's poor. These figures show little change since early June.

Roughly half (51%) of those insured voters, however, say it’s at least somewhat likely that passage of the health care bill will mean they have to change their insurance. That’s up from 40% in early July and the highest level measured in two months. Twenty-nine percent (29%) say it's Very Likely.

Thirty-eight percent (38%) believe it’s not likely they will have to switch their insurance.

For the first since President Obama took office, voters see his policies as equally to blame with those of President George W. Bush for the country’s current economic problems.

Forty-four percent (44%) expect their taxes to increase under Obama.

Most voter see cutting spending and cutting deficits as good for the economy.


http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/current_events/healthcare/august_2010/57_say_health_care_plan_bad_for_the_country_59_favor_repeal