Poll: Plurality supports single-payer health care

[ehrnst]

31. Polls responses can be malleable, depending on what is actually asked.

For instance, a huge number of those polled about the ACA when it was being proposed were against it.

That was used by the GOP to oppose the ACA.

But when those polled learned about individual aspects of it, more favored it - indicating a lack of understanding of the ACA influenced how people felt about it.

There is a similar polling effect with Single Payer:

http://www.kff.org/health-reform/poll-finding/data-note-modestly-strong-but-malleable-support-for-single-payer-health-care/

From the article in the OP about the Harris/Morning Consult poll:

Single-payer was part of a battery of questions on four progressive proposals, but those questions did not include any mentions of funding mechanisms for these programs.

In other words - there were no questions concerning the cost to the individual for this.


From the KFF findings:

The poll finds the public’s attitudes on single-payer are quite malleable, and some people could be convinced to change their position after hearing typical pro and con arguments that might come up in a national debate. For example, when those who initially say they favor a single-payer or Medicare-for-all plan are asked how they would feel if they heard that such a plan would give the government too much control over health care, about four in ten (21 percent of the public overall) say they would change their mind and would now oppose the plan, pushing total opposition up to 62 percent. Similarly, when this group is told such a plan would require many Americans to pay more in taxes or that it would eliminate or replace the Affordable Care Act, total opposition increases to 60 percent and 53 percent, respectively.