Current Research in the Behavioral Sciences: Assessing Americans’ Attitudes Toward Health Care

(Reliability and Validity) Current Research in the Behavioral Sciences: Assessing Americans’ Attitudes Toward Health Care

Because so many opinion polls are now conducted, and many of their results are quickly put online, it is now possible to view the estimated opinions of large populations in almost real time. For instance, as I write these words in July, 2009, I can visit the CBS news website and see the results of a number of  recent polls regarding the opinions of U.S. citizens about a variety of national issues. 

        One poll, reported at http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/pdf/jul09b_ health_care-AM.pdf used a random sample of 1,050 adults nationwide in the United States, who were interviewed by telephone on July 24–28, 2009. The phone numbers were dialed from random digit dial samples of both standard landline and cell phones. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample is plus or minus three percentage points, although the error for subgroups is higher. 

            The polls provide a snapshot of the current state of thinking in U.S. citizens about health care reform. Here are some findings: 

          In response to the question “Will health care reform happen in 2009?” most Americans see health care reform as likely, although just 16 percent call it “very” likely. Four in 10 think it is not likely this year. 

Very likely 16% 

Somewhat likely 43% 

Not likely 40% 

        However, many Americans don’t see how they would personally benefi t from the health care proposals being considered. In response to the question, “Would the current congressional reform proposals help you? 59 percent say those proposals—as they understand them—would not help them directly. Just under a third says current plans would. 

Yes 31%

No 59%

         By a 2 to 1 margin, Americans feel President Obama has better ideas for reforming health care than Congressional Republicans. Views on this are partisan, but independents side with the President.

          The question asked was “Who has better ideas for health care reform?” Here are the results overall, as well as separately for Democrats, Republicans, and Independents:

                                        Overall         Democrats          Republicans           Independents

President Obama                 55%               81%                      27%                     48%

Republicans                          26%              10%                      52%                     26%

But, as you can see in the responses to the following question, Mr. Obama’s approval rating on handling the overall issue remains under  50 percent, and many still don’t have a view yet:

          “Do you approve or disapprove of President Obama’s health care plans?”

           Approve           46%

           Disapprove       38%

           Don’t know      16%