Just saw thispoll from NBC/WSJ about health care reform. A lot of interesting bits in there, but the saddest was this:
Americans were asked whether the health care proposal...
Will allow the government to make decisions about when to stop providing medical care to the elderly
Likely to happen: 45
Unlikely to happen: 50
45% are apparently falling for this killing-grandma crap. But there's more...
I actually read through the entire poll. I am in no way Nate Silver - the numbers half of my brain is about as developed as, well, either half of Sarah Palin's brain. But there were some bits that were interesting to me. YOu can see the whole PDF for yourself here.
Obviously if 45% of the people surveyed think that the death panel horseshit is real, there is an information problem. But that's made even more obvious in these questions:
7a. From what you have heard about Barack Obama's health care plan, do you think his plan is a good idea or a bad idea? If you do not have an opinion either way, please just say so.
Good idea 36%
Bad idea 42%
No opinion 17%
Not sure 5%
7b. And from what you have heard about Barack Obama's health care plan, do you believe it will result in the quality of your health care getting better, worse, or staying about the same as now? If you do not have an opinion, please just say so.
Getting better 24%
Getting worse 40%
Staying about the same 27%
No opinion 7%
NOt sure 2%
But then, look what happens when the pollster actually EXPLAINS the plan:
- Now I am going to tell you more about the health care plan that President Obama supports and please tell me whether you would favor or oppose it.
The plan requires that health insurance companies cover people with pre-existing medical conditions. It also requires all but the smallest employers to provide health coverage for their employees, or pay a percentage of their payroll to help fund coverage for the uninsured. Families and individuals with lower- and middle-incomes would recieve tax credits to help them afford insurance coverage. Some of the funding for this plan would comve from raising taxes on wealthier Americans.
Do you favor or oppose this plan? And do you strongly or only somewhat favor/oppose this plan?
Favor 53%
Strongly favor: 35%
Somewhat favor 18%
Oppose 43%
Somewhat oppose 14%
Strongly oppose 29%
Depends (VOL) 2%
Not sure 2%
So in other words, when people actually KNOW WHAT THE FUCKING PLAN IS, they like it a lot better than they did before. So where are they getting this misinformation from?
- From which ONE of the following television news sources do you get MOST of your information about the health care debate? If you do not watch any of these, please just say so.
Broadcast network news, such as NBC, ABC, or CBS 40%
CNN 17%
MSNBC 7%
Fox News 23%
None of these 11%
Not sure 2%
I'm sure this isn't a huge surprise to people out there. But it goes to show that if people actually know what is being proposed, they like it. The only problem seems to be getting the word out. Like pretty much every news article, when I read the headline about this, I was worried, then read the actual data and felt a little reassured. It's horrible how useless the media is being in actually getting real information out there, but I suppose that's nothing new. The real question is how to get actual true info into people's hands in a way that will make them actually pay attention to it and not toss it aside?
At any rate America, figure it out quick, cause I got me some funny-lookin' moles I need checked out.