The new Fox News poll suggests that Republicans might just be on to something with their plans to campaign on repealing the health care bill, with a plurality agreeing with the position — and the GOP base being especially fired up about it.
The poll asked the following question: “Which one of the following comes closest to what you would like to see lawmakers do next if Congress passes a health care bill — would you like lawmakers to repeal the bill, expand the bill, or leave it as is?”
The result: Repeal 45%, expand 29%, leave as is 18%. In the internals, Republicans were heavily driven by a repeal position, at 77%-9%-8%. Democrats largely wanted to expand it, at 14%-51%-24%. And independents were fairly close to the top-lines, at 45%-24%-22%.
In the NBC/Wall Street Journal poll from a few days ago, this question was asked: “And, suppose the health care reform bill passes Congress this year. If a candidate for Congress proposed repealing and overturning this health care bill, would you be more likely or less likely to vote for him or her, or would it make no difference to you either way in your vote?”
The answer there was: More likely 37%, less likely 33%, no difference 29%. It should be noted that a more/less likely question can be something of a blunt and imprecise instrument, because many respondents’ minds are totally made up on how they will vote, with some voting one way and some voting the other way.
Eric Kleefeld
Eric Kleefeld joined TPM as an intern for the final months of the 2006 midterm elections, and then kept showing up for work. His other interests include guitars, old comic books and the politics of various English-speaking countries.
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