Health Care Polls
Nearly half of Americans have no federal income tax obligations. Roughly half want (the same or even more) new health care legislation. And over half think the government can’t afford it. How’s that going to work?
I stumbled onto an answer to our discussion about popular support for health care.
On March 31, a Gallup poll reported that half of Americans were unhappy with the Health Care legislation. They overwhelmingly agreed (94%) that it will expand government’s role too much, and that it will cost the government too much.
And then, as human beings love to do, a third to a half of the same people wanted changes that required even more government intervention and even higher costs.
HEALTH CARE LEGISLATION SUPPORT FADES
A week later, on April 8, a Fox News poll revealed a more negative tilt that other sources are also reporting. The Fox poll shows 39% of voters are in favor of the new law, and 54% are against it.
In fact, only a tiny 12% of voters think the law should be implemented “as is.”
Supporting our reader’s suggestion, Fox probed deeper about changes to our health care system. 21% said the law didn’t go far enough. 22% said it did. 44% said it went too far.
Looking at the 21% that said the law didn’t go far enough: I can’t tell from these results if some of the people answering Fox’s survey support the legislation even though they believe it hasn’t gone “far enough” (whatever “far enough” means.)
Nevertheless, it does look like a core group of these respondents oppose the legislation specifically because they want more than the new law provides for.
Can these people ever be satisfied? I don’t know. Can they be satisfied without losing other supporters? Hard to say.
WILL BIG TAX PAYERS STAY IN THE GAME?
We do have this interesting puzzle: Beyond a shadow of a doubt – in both the Fox poll and the Gallup poll – the economy is the overriding concern of the U.S. voter. The Fox poll says those opposed to health care legislation believe it is too expensive and too intrusive. And yet many still want more.
In a country where nearly half of all U.S. citizens have no federal income tax obligation of any kind; where 75% of the burden is paid for by 10% of the population; and where our unbounded generosity extends to illegal aliens here, and to many, many countries around the world… at what point do our biggest income producers finally move out, or just plain quit?
Let’s hope we don’t find out.