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Leading Pollsters Discuss Strong Public Support President Obama’s Proposals

Leading Pollsters Discuss Strong Public Support for the Specific Elements of President Obama’s Proposal for Health Insurance Reform

***Click Here to Download Audio From Today’s Press Conference Call Hosted by Americans United for Change***

Washington DC – Americans United for Change hosted a press conference call today with leading pollsters to discuss the strong public support for the specific elements of President Obama’s proposal for health insurance reform.

Celinda Lake, President, Lake Research: “If you look at the context by any measures, you have people wanting change. And there’s been nothing in the environment that’s changed in that. In fact, if anything, the environment has gotten more conductive to reform. If you look at the credibility of the voices out there on health care, the Democrats, the President and the progressives have a lot more credibility than the people who oppose reform. If you look at the specific Obama plan, it tests quite well, and if you look at the individual components it tests almost off the charts.”

Anna Greenberg, Senior Vice President, Greenberg Quinlan Rosner: “When people are actually presented information about the President’s plan, you get majorities of people in different polls saying that they favor the plan. And there has been no increase in any sense that the Republicans have a better alternative.”

Clear Public Support for Specific Elements of Obama’s Proposal for Health Insurance Reform

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SOURCE: Pew Research Center, July 30, 2009

TIME Magazine Poll, 7/29/09: “On the details of the plan, respondents remained supportive of many of the rough outlines of the health-reform effort as originally described by President Obama. Sixty-three percent said they would support providing health-care coverage for all Americans, even if the government had to subsidize those who could not afford it. Fifty-six percent said they supported a “public health insurance option” to compete with private plans. Fifty-seven percent support raising taxes on those with annual incomes over $280,000 to pay for the plan. Eighty percent said they would support a bill that required insurance companies to offer coverage to anyone who applies, even those with pre-existing medical conditions.”

WASHINGTON POST’S PLUM LINE: Flipside Of Those Polls: Republicans Taking It On The Chin On Health Care, Too


Tom McMahon, acting Executive Director, Americans United for Change: “Bottom line: the more the American people learn about the specific elements of President Obama’s proposal for health insurance plan, the more they like it. That’s why Americans United has hired staff in several legislative swing states, including Maine, Arkansas, North Carolina, North Dakota, Indiana and Nebraska, where they will be working hard this summer convening town halls and drumming up calls and letters of support from constituents -- all in an effort to demonstrate to Members of Congress that the President’s proposals are very popular in their states. We will be encouraging Members to listen to their constituents, not the Republican Party of NO and the big insurance companies that what to kill reform dead in its tracks and perpetuate the status quo another 15 years.”