The Fighting 29thAll about New York's 29th Congressional Districthttp://www.fighting29th.com/node/4510/atom/feed2007-10-16T20:55:46-04:00USA Today S-CHIP Pollhttp://www.fighting29th.com/2007/10/usa-today-schip-poll.html2007-10-16T20:55:46-04:002007-10-16T20:55:46-04:00RottenchesterRandy Kuhl's blog, and the Ontario GOP blog, take encouragement from a USA Today/Gallup poll on S-CHIP. Both note that a majority of those polled (55%) said they were "somewhat concerned" (33%) or "very concerned" (22%) that S-CHIP would be an incentive for the middle class to drop private health insurance. And another majority (52%) preferred Bush's plan to limit S-CHIP to a family of 4 making less than $41K, versus the Democrats' plan to make the upper limit $61K.
Both Kuhl the the Ontario GOP omit another interesting statistic from that poll. When asked who they trust to get S-CHIP right, 52% say that they trust the Democrats. Only 32% trust the President. Another interesting fact: 17% of the respondents were following S-CHIP "very closely", and 34% "somewhat closely". Almost half of the public (49%) are following the issue "not too closely" or "not at all".
So, when a generally uninformed public is presented specific facts on S-CHIP, they tend to agree with Republicans. When those facts are absent, their general distrust of the President governs their opinions. The news on S-CHIP could be worse, but this certainly doesn't qualify as good news for Republicans.
Also, it's interesting to see Republicans in the same position where Democrats usually find themselves. The Republicans' position is based on a careful reading of the details. Democrats are aiming straight for the gut. When half of the public doesn't really care, the gut carries the day.
Update: Via pollster.com, here's the Gallup writeup on the poll. ]]>Randy Kuhl's blog, and the Ontario GOP blog, take encouragement from a USA Today/Gallup poll on S-CHIP. Both note that a majority of those polled (55%) said they were "somewhat concerned" (33%) or "very concerned" (22%) that S-CHIP would be an incentive for the middle class to drop private health insurance. And another majority (52%) preferred Bush's plan to limit S-CHIP to a family of 4 making less than $41K, versus the Democrats' plan to make the upper limit $61K.
Both Kuhl the the Ontario GOP omit another interesting statistic from that poll. When asked who they trust to get S-CHIP right, 52% say that they trust the Democrats. Only 32% trust the President. Another interesting fact: 17% of the respondents were following S-CHIP "very closely", and 34% "somewhat closely". Almost half of the public (49%) are following the issue "not too closely" or "not at all".
So, when a generally uninformed public is presented specific facts on S-CHIP, they tend to agree with Republicans. When those facts are absent, their general distrust of the President governs their opinions. The news on S-CHIP could be worse, but this certainly doesn't qualify as good news for Republicans.
Also, it's interesting to see Republicans in the same position where Democrats usually find themselves. The Republicans' position is based on a careful reading of the details. Democrats are aiming straight for the gut. When half of the public doesn't really care, the gut carries the day.