The president has rallied his base behind his health care plan,
but a plurality of Americans remains against
his proposal to nationalize the medical system.
Explains Rasmussen Reports:
Americans are now closely divided over the proposed health care
reform
plan following President Obama's speech to Congress
Wednesday night, although a plurality of voters are still
opposed. All of the gains have come from Democrats, but the
president has rallied his base and generated a significant
increase in enthusiasm among supporters of the plan.
New Rasmussen Reports national polling - conducted over the two
nights following the speech - shows that 47% of Americans now
favor the plan proposed by the president and congressional
Democrats. That's up from 43% at the
end of August and from 44%
earlier this week.
Forty-nine percent (49%) of voter remain opposed to the plan,
but it marks the first time opposition has fallen below 50% in
weeks.
It will be interesting to see if his new-found support remains
solid, or peels off, returning opinions to roughly where they
were before his speech. In any case, the president has
failed to move the majority of Americans into his camp--and for
good reason, given the many dangers of increasing federal control
over health care.
About the Author
Doug Bandow is a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute and the Senior Fellow in International Religious Persecution at the Institute on Religion and Public Policy. A former Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan, he is author of Beyond Good Intentions: A Biblical View of Politics (Crossway).
