A Kaiser poll (pdf) finds that 22% of respondents believe the health care reform bill has been repealed, and another 26% don’t know. (HT: Dispatches and The Daily Dish)
Now I realize that the majority in the poll do realize, correctly, that the health care bill is still law. But consider that even the 22% is more than the gap between those who support and those who oppose the law. The question this raises for me is just how meaningful the rest of the poll responses can be, when answered by people who aren’t at all acquainted with it.
Elgin Hushbeck, Jr. in his book Preserving Democracy (published by my company Energion Publications) notes another poll:
A key reason is that while most people know who the President is*, a significant number of voters have no clue about Congress. In a Zogby poll of those who voted for Obama conducted shortly after the election, less than half, 42.6 percent, even knew that Congress was controlled by the Democrats and 36.5 percent actually believed that the Republicans were in control.224 In a USA Today/Gallup Poll conducted just after the election, 28 percent of those asked said they had never heard of Harry Reid, the Senate Majority Leader, while Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House was better known, as only eight percent226 had never heard of her (pp. 208-209).
These are not matters subject to opinion. I often hear people called ignorant because they don’t agree with certain conclusions. Such accusations only reflect badly on the accuser. But whether a law has been passed or which party is in control of congress are not matters of opinion.
No wonder polls tend to vary wildly and people’s votes often seem to contradict their values.
Related articles
- Poll: Barely Half Of Americans Know Health Care Law Hasn’t Been Repealed (alternet.org)
- Voters credit Obama for economy upswing (alternet.org)
- Rove: Voters Do Care About the Deficit and Oppose Obamacare (online.wsj.com)
- 22% live in a fantasy world. No wonder our system is broken. (amanwithaphd.wordpress.com)
