Poll: Regroup On Health Care, Most Say

Poll: Regroup On Health Care, Most Say

Originally Posted At USA Today
January 22, 2010

WASHINGTON — A majority of Americans say President Obama and congressional Democrats should suspend work on the health care bill that has been on the verge of passage and consider alternatives that would draw more Republican support, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds.
The results underscore the unsettled prospects for health care legislation — which has consumed much of the capital's energies for nearly a year — in the wake of Republican Scott Brown's upset victory in the Massachusetts Senate race Tuesday. He will give the GOP the 41st vote they need to sustain a filibuster and block action.

POLL: Most Americans want more GOP support on health care
HEALTH CARE: Dems say Health bills 'as they stand are dead'
INTERACTIVE: USA TODAY Presidential approval tracker

An overwhelming 72% of those surveyed Wednesday say the Bay State result "reflects frustrations shared by many Americans, and the president and members of Congress should pay attention to it." Eighteen percent say it "reflects political conditions in Massachusetts and doesn't have a larger meaning for national politics."

Republican pollster Neil Newhouse, who worked for Brown's campaign, calls the victory "a game changer" for Democrats, who risk major setbacks in the fall elections.

"If they go on with business as usual, then voters are going to pick up on how tone deaf that appears to them, and their congressional delegations are going to pay a terrible price in November," he said.

There's less unanimity in the poll about the larger meaning of Brown's victory, however: 55% call for Democrats to go back to the drawing board for a more bipartisan proposal while 39% say they should continue to work on the current bill.

One in four Democrats say lawmakers should draft a new bill, as do 56% of independents and 87% of Republicans.

On Capitol Hill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said there wasn't enough Democratic support in the House to pass the Senate version of the health care bill — an option that would eliminate the need for the Senate to consider it again.

Those surveyed are inclined to say Obama and Democratic leaders have erred in making health care the top legislative priority for now. Forty-six percent say that health care is important but that there are other problems they should address first; 19% say health care shouldn't be a major priority.

One in three say health care should be the top priority now.

Obama gets a mixed assessment in the survey, taken on the one-year anniversary of his inauguration: 39% are pleased with the progress he's made on issues while 37% say they are upset because he's taking the country in the wrong direction; 20% describe themselves as disappointed because they thought he would have made more progress than he has.

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