US: National Survey (NBC/WSJ 10/22-25)
Emily Swanson | October 27, 2009
NBC News / Wall Street Journal
10/22-25/09; 1,009 adults, 3.1% margin of error
Mode: Live telephone interviews
(First Read: Tease 1, Tease 2)
Update: NBC: story, toplines; WSJ: story, toplines
National
State of the Country
36% Right Direction, 52% Wrong track (chart)
Obama Job Approval
51% Approve, 42% Disapprove (chart)
Economy: 47 / 46 (chart)
Foreign Policy: 51 / 39 (chart)
Health Care: 43 / 48 (chart)
Congressional Job Approval
24% Approve, 65% Disapprove (chart)
Favorable Rating
Barack Obama: 56% Positive, 33% Negative (chart)
Sarah Palin: 27 / 46 (chart)
From what you have heard about Barack Obama's health care plan, do you think his plan is a good idea or a bad idea? If you do not have an opinion either way, please just say so.
38% Good idea, 42% Bad idea, 16% No opinion (chart)
Would you strongly support, somewhat support, somewhat oppose, or strongly oppose increasing troop levels in Afghanistan?
47% Somewhat/Strongly Support, 43% Somewhat/Strongly Oppose
Party ID
30% Democrat, 17% Republican,44% independent (chart)
According to the poll, 48% say they favor a public health plan administered by the federal government that would compete with private insurers, compared with 42% who oppose it. That's a shift from last month, though within the margin of error, when 48% opposed the public option and 46% supported it. And it's a 10-point swing from August, when 47% were in opposition and 43% were in favor.In another question asked a different way -- is it important to give people a choice of a public option? -- a combined 72% answered that it was either "extremely important" or "quite important," while just 23% said it was "not that important" or "not at all important." Those numbers are virtually unchanged from last month.
Only 23% say they trust government "just about always" or "most of the time," which is the lowest number on this question in 12 years.What's more, nearly half of respondents (46%) support building an independent political party to compete with the Republicans and Democrats.
And nearly six in 10 (57%) blame both Republicans and Democrats for the partisanship in Washington; 24% blame the Republicans only, while 17% point their finger at the Democrats.
By Emily Swanson | October 27, 2009 5:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)
Comments
Liberal Dems need to drop the public option if they want it passed. Moderate Dems and the GOP do not want the public option.
The soft support lies in the fact people don't want a mandate to buy insurance without an affordable "public option" This is the reason the numbers rise when one includes a public option. That is also the reason some kind of public option will be in the final package.
I don't see it, they cannot get to 60 votes in the senate with a public option in the bill. There are just to many moderate Dems from red states who cannot afford to support that. And I am still not convinced Pelosi as enough Bue Dog support to get a public option thru the House.
Interesting via our discussion yesterday. This poll indicates 36% self described conservatives and 24% self described liberals (including leaners). The trend is in the right direction,.. left.
As for the public option, we will see.
I find 17% republicans quite low. They should be somewhere between 25-30%.
What is so pathetic about the Democrats is I know for a fact the GOP sees weakness in them. Tony Castellanos, I don't think I spelled it right on CNN once said that he has been waiting for the Democrats to show real reform and pointed out just how many times the moderate Democrats lie to their voters by watering down reform to the point where any health care plan is non-existent. Of course Castellanos is conservative and doesn't want health care reform, but he was quite accurate in how disorganized Democrats have been through this whole process.
I am so sick of this long debate on health care. Obama has to be firm, and they have to get their 55 or 56 votes and sign the bill, and throw Joe Liebermann out of the caucus for good. As long as this debate is delayed and delayed, there will be many Americans second guessing health care reform. Once it is passed, the new plan can be defended and marketed to the American people.
Posted on October 28, 2009 10:01 AM