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Polls Show Obama's Health Care Speech Was a Bust

By Philip Klein on 9.15.09 @ 12:22PM

A new USA Today/Gallup poll finds Americans evenly divided on health care legislation following President Obama's address to a joint session of Congress, with 50 percent supporting it and 47 percent opposing it. At the same time, just 38 percent say it will accomplish its goals, and just 43 percent approve of Obama's handling of the health care issue.

"The president's speech apparently failed to galvanize public opinion in the way the White House had hoped," USA Today article concludes. "While it drew a national television audience estimated by Nielsen at more than 32 million people, there's little evidence in the survey that it changed minds."

Meanwhile, Rasmussen, which had been showing a steady rise in support for health care legislation following Obama's speech, today revealed new numbers showing that, "the bounce appears to be over. The latest daily tracking shows that support has fallen all the way back to pre-speech levels."

Yesterday, I noted an ABC/Washington Post poll that found a negligible impact on public opinion -- 46 percent supported legislation and 48 opposed after the speech, compared with 45 percent support and 50 percent opposition in the previous poll, taken mid August.