Friday, November 13, 2009

Public Opinion on Public Option

Getty image from Reuters


There were some interesting polling figures reported in October related to health care reform. An article from Reuters reported public support for a US public healthcare option.

Perhaps the most meaningful statistic of several cited is:
Nevertheless, one Pew poll last month found that 67 percent of respondents found the healthcare debate difficult to understand...

There's a thought-provoking post in the blog FiveThirtyEight: Politics Done Right entitled
Poll: Most Don't Know What "Public Option" Is -- Including Pollsters
I found myself nodding (in agreement, not nodding off) with this passage:

This is also why relatively small changes in wording can trigger dramatic shifts in support for the public option, which has been as high as 83 percent in some polls and as low as 35 percent in others depending on who is doing the polling and how they're asking the questions.
You can find numerous articles about public opinion on the public option. One of the most interesting I read was
Pollster Behind Controversial Public Option Poll Has Long Ties To Insurance Industry

How do you think such polls should be worded?

What do you think about including a public option in reform legislation?

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