Polling Shows Further Collapse in Support for Obamacare

Simply confirming what we already know:

Americans are concerned that overhauling the health care system would reduce the quality of their care, increase their out-of-pocket health costs and tax bills and limit their options in choosing doctors, treatment and tests, the poll found. The percentage who describe health care costs as a serious threat to the American economy — a central argument being made by Mr. Obama — has dropped over the past month.

Mr. Obama continues to benefit from strong support for the basic goal of revamping the health care system, and he is seen as far more likely than Congressional Republicans to have the best ideas to accomplish that. But reflecting a problem that has afflicted attempts to bring major changes to health care for decades, Americans expressed considerable unease about what the result would mean for them on an individual basis. “We need to fix health care, but if the government creates the system, I’m afraid the quality of care will go down and costs will go up: We will pay more taxes,” Mary Bevering, a Democrat from Fort Madison, Iowa, said in a follow-up interview.

She added: “It’s going to come down to regulation. What also worries me is whether we will be told what physician we can have.”

The poll was taken at a moment of extreme fluidity, both in terms of the complicated negotiations going on in the House and the Senate as legislators and the administration sort out the substance and politics of competing proposals, as well as efforts by both sides to define the stakes of the health care debate for the public.

With Congress now almost certain to adjourn for the rest of the summer without floor votes on any specific plan, the next month or two is likely to see a vigorous advertising and grass roots effort to shift public opinion, and the poll offers hope to both sides.

The changes in the public’s attitude over the past month, even if not huge, suggest the reason why Mr. Obama sought so hard to get Congress to vote on some versions of an overhaul before heading home.

Opponents of a health care overhaul have spent $9 million so far on television advertisements that raise concerns about the proposed changes, according to Evan Tracey, the chief operating officer of Campaign Media Analysis Group, which tracks political advertising.

The advertisements, which include radio and television, are financed by the Republican National Committee and targeted at constituents of wavering Senate and House members. The officials said the ad campaign would accelerate now legislators are returning home for the summer.

The ads present the overhaul as a risky experiment, or a government takeover of health care that would prevent people from choosing their own doctors.

Lets get something straight, it was the grassroots, the bloggers, and talk radio who led the way on opposition, not some top down assault. If anything I wish Industry was more in opposition and less inclined to sit at the table in hopes of getting a deal from the President. By the way the poll gives the President an approval rating of 58%. Of interest is that 56% considered Iraq going well compared to 37% who though badly compared to 33% who thought Afghanistan is doing well and 57% who thought badly. Since this is CBS/Times as expected we have enormous oversampling of Democrats with 34% identifying with the Democrats, 39% as Independents, and a minuscule 20% identifying with the GOP.