Republican News Headlines
Poll finds health care reform issue helps Republicans in N.J.
September 3, 2009
While President Obama’s support among New Jersey Democrats remains strong, Republicans and Independents have grown more wary of both the president and his plans for health-care reform.
According to a new Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind poll made public Thursday, only 1-in-3 New Jersey voters, 33 percent, say that the health-care reforms being proposed will benefit them and their families.
Nearly half, 46 percent, say that they would be worse off if the reforms pass, up substantially from 34 percent earlier in the summer, while those who say they’re unsure how reform might affect them declined 10 percent to 21 percent from 31 percent earlier in the summer.
“Nothing happened to change the minds of people who were already in favor of reform,” said Dan Cassino, a political scientist and survey analyst at Fairleigh Dickinson, “but many people who weren’t sure have turned decisively against it.”
In fact, 41 percent of likely voters now say they would instruct their member of Congress to vote against a health-care reform bill, while 37% say that they would ask their representative to support it.
In another indicator of voters’ apprehension in the health-care debate, 42 percent say that the reforms would be bad for America. However, 44 percent of voters say that the reforms would be good for America regardless of how it impacts them. That compares to the 33 percent who say reform would benefit them personally: leaving 11 percent who believe that reform will be good for the country, but bad for them personally, a group evenly composed of Republicans, Democrats and Independents.
While Obama and his attempts to reform the American health-care system meet with increased skepticism, 56 percent of New Jersey voters say that they approve of the job the president is doing, down from 61 percent in June. The percentage of Democrats approving of the president is stable at 88 percent, but 7-in-10 Republicans now say that they disapprove of the president, a jump of 11 points. His support is also substantially worse among Independents: just 40 percent approve of the job he’s doing, down from 52 percent at the start of the summer.
“It’s not that the health-care debate is hurting the Democrats. It’s that the health-care reforms havehelped Republicans by giving them a rallying point,” Cassino said. “The main impact of the health-care debate has been to reassert partisan divisions, turning Republican voters against Obama.”
For the first time in Obama’s presidency, as many, if not more, New Jersey voters say the country Is going in the wrong direction, 46 percent, as think that it’s on the right track, 44 percent. This is another change driven by increasing disapproval among Republicans and Independents.
“Polarization has been the norm in American politics for the last 15 years,” Cassino said. “And these results show that the next few years aren’t likely to be any different.”
The survey also finds that voters’ views of health-care reform vary significantly depending on theirattentiveness. For example, among the least attentive voters, a majority , 52 percent, say that they would be worse off if reform passed; only 20 percent say that they would be better off. But the most attentive voters split almost evenly on the issue, 38 percent to 41 percent. Similarly, the most attentive voters are almost twice as likely to say that the country will be better off if reforms are passed as those who are the least informed, 48 percent to 27 percent. In the most striking difference, 46 percent of those who are the most attentive say they would instruct their member of Congress to vote for reforms; only 19 percent of the least informed say they want their representative to vote for it.
“The arguments over health-care reform have apparently swayed many attentive citizens,” Cassino said. “But the rest of that battle may be fought over people who don’t always pay attention.'
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Kevin O'Toole
Position: Senator
Date: 9/25/09
Contact: 973-237-1360
DeCroce and O'Toole call for special investigator to review Corzine's hedge fund investments. Republican legislators also plan to introduce legislation requiring blind trusts for Governor's investments.
