Voters Say They Know Health Care Bill Better Than Congress

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/current_events/healthcare/august_2009/voters_say_they_know_health_care_bill_better_than_congress

Most voters think they understand the health care reform legislation
proposed by President Obama better than Congress does - and about as
well as the president himself.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 51% of
voters rate their understanding of the health care plan as good or
excellent. Only 21% say their understanding of it is poor.

By contrast, just 22% say Congress has a good or excellent
understanding of the plan. Thirty-five percent (35%) say Congress'
knowledge of the proposal is poor.

Voters give the president more credit than that. Forty-seven percent
(47%) say Obama's understanding of his own plan is good or excellent,
while 27% rate his knowledge of it as poor.

A closer look at the numbers reveals that just 11% of voters believe
that Congress understands the health care legislation better than they
do. Forty-six percent (46%) hold the opposite view and think they
understand the bill better than Congress does. Nearly as many (43%)
rate their understanding of the legislation as equal to Congress'.

Thirty percent (30%) of voters believe they understand the bill better
than the president does. Thirty-four percent (34%) say the president
understands his own health care plan better, while 36% rate their
understanding of the legislation as the same as Obama's.

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Rasmussen Reports asked survey participants to rate their own
understanding of the legislation and then to rate congressional and
presidential understanding. They were not asked to compare their own
understanding with that of Congress or the president. Rather, the
ratings were compared to derive those figures. For example, suppose
someone rated their own understanding as "good" and the president's
understanding as "poor." They would be counted as believing they
understood the plan better than the president.

Younger voters are more generous than older voters in their assessment
of Congress.

Liberals tend to give Congress more credit, too. Thirty-six percent
(36%) of those on the political left say Congress has a good or
excellent understanding of the plan. Just 16% of conservatives agree
while 51% of conservatives rate congressional understanding as poor.

Most Democrats (52%) say the president understands the bill better
than they do. A plurality of Republicans (44%) hold the opposite view.
As for those not affiliated with either major party, 34% say they
understand the legislation better than Obama does, but 27% say the
president knows the bill better.

Voters are divided on the president's accusation that critics of the
plan are "bearing false witness" against it. Thirty-six percent (36%)
agree with the president, but 38% do not. Most Democrats agree, and
most Republicans don't. Unaffiliateds, by a 46% to 33% margin,
disagree with Obama on this point.

Earlier surveys have found that people overwhelmingly trust their own
economic judgment more than that of the average member of Congress. By
a two-to-one margin, voters also trust their own economic judgment
more than the president's.

Public support for the health care reform plan proposed by the
president and congressional Democrats has fallen to a new low with
just 42% of voters now in favor of the plan. Opposition to the plan
has increased to 53%. Intensity remains stronger among opponents of
the plan than among its supporters.

In early August, 49% of voters said those protesting the health care
plan at congressional town hall meetings were genuinely expressing the
views of their neighbors, while 37% said they had been put up to it by
special interest groups and lobbyists.

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Scott Rasmussen, president of Rasmussen Reports, has been an
independent pollster for more than a decade.