61% Say Congress Should Start All Over Again on Health Care

February 12, 2010

Rasmussen Reports

President Obama this week called for a televised bipartisan summit to get his health care reform plan back on track, but 61% of U.S. voters say Congress should scrap that plan and start all over again.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds just 28% who think it is better to build on the health care plan that has been working its way through the House and Senate.

Support for and opposition to the existing plan remain at the same levels they’ve been at since just after Thanksgiving.

Only 35% of voters believe Congress should pass health care reform before the upcoming midterm elections anyway. Fifty-four percent (54%) say Congress should wait until voters select new congressional representatives in November.

It’s interesting to note that in a separate survey earlier this week 63% of voters said, generally speaking, it would be better for the country if most incumbents in Congress were defeated this November. Just 27% now believe their current congressman is the best person for the job.

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One major reason for this anti-incumbency attitude is the high level of opposition to the health care plan proposed by the president and congressional Democrats. Thirty-nine percent (39%) now approve of that plan, while 58% disapprove. The emotion continues to be on the side of the opponents, too: The overall numbers include 19% who Strongly Approve of the plan and 48% who Strongly Disapprove of it.

However, 41% still say it is at least somewhat likely that the plan proposed by the president and congressional Democrats will become law this year, although only six percent (6%) say it’s very likely. Fifty percent (50%) disagree, including 38% who say passage this year is not very likely and 12% who think it’s not at all likely.

These findings are consistent with beliefs in our final weekly tracking poll on the health care plan in mid-January after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi acknowledged Democrats did not have the votes to pass the plan as it stood. Democratic support for the plan faltered following the January 19 Republican upset win in the Massachusetts special Senate race.

The president in his January 29 State of the Union speech and in subsequent comments has invited GOP congressional leaders to the bargaining table in hopes of salvaging the health care plan. Republicans want to start all over again.

Just 19% of voters believe it is at least somewhat likely that Democrats and Republicans will agree on a bipartisan health care plan this year. Eighty percent (80%) think it’s unlikely. Included in those figures are four percent (4%) who say a bipartisan plan is very likely and 32% who say it’s not at all likely.

Only 37% say it is even somewhat likely that Congress will agree on a smaller, bipartisan health care plan this year.

Sixty-one percent (61%) say Congress should drop health care reform and focus on more immediate ways to improve the economy and create jobs.

Fifty-three percent (53%) of Democrats say Congress should build on the health care plan that has been working this way through Congress. Republicans (84%) overwhelmingly disagree and think Congress should scarp that plan and start all over, a view shared by two-thirds (66%) of voters not affiliated with either major party.

Similarly, 66% of Democrats think Congress should pass health care reform before the November elections. Eighty percent (80%) of Republicans and 59% of unaffiliateds say it’s better to wait until voters select a new Congress.

Democrats have consistently rated health care reform as the most important of the president’s budget priorities, while GOP and unaffiliated voters put deficit reduction in first place.

Voters in the president’s party also continue to be the strongest supporters of the present health care plan: 72% favor it, including 37% who strongly favor it.

By contrast, 89% of Republicans and 66% of unaffiliated voters oppose the plan. Those numbers include 75% and 57% respectively who strongly oppose the president’s plan.

The Political Class, as is generally the case, doesn’t see eye-to-eye with Mainstream voters on the issue. While 75% of Mainstream voters oppose the plan, 87% of the Political Class favors it.

Eighty-five percent (85%) of the Political Class say it’s better to build on the current plan, but 74% of Mainstream voters say Congress should start all over again.

Eighty-two percent (82%) of the Political Class say Congress should pass health care reform before the midterm elections. Sixty-eight percent (68%) of Mainstream voters want to wait until after voters select a new Congress in November.

For now at least, voter unhappiness with the health care reform plan seems to be hurting the reelection chances of incumbent Democratic senators in several states including Arkansas, California, Colorado, Indiana, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

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