Posted on 06/07/2011 1:44:43 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
The public offers a mixed reaction to a proposal to change Medicare into a program that would give future participants a credit toward purchasing private health insurance coverage: 41% oppose such a change, 36% favor it, and nearly a quarter (23%) have no opinion either way. Despite this even division of opinion overall, there is broad, and strong, opposition to the proposal among older Americans, and those who are paying a lot of attention to the issue.
Those ages 50 and older oppose this proposal, which is part of Rep. Paul Ryan’s deficit reduction plan, by a 51% to 29% margin. And this opposition is intense: 42% strongly oppose this kind of change, while only 19% strongly favor it. The same is true among people who say they have heard a lot about this proposal – fully 56% are opposed while 33% are in favor, and strong opposition among this group outweighs strong support by two-to-one (50% vs. 25%).
The latest national poll by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted May 25-30 among 1,509 adults, finds only modest partisan differences in views of the Medicare proposal. Democrats are slightly more likely to oppose this kind of change than are Republicans (46% vs. 39%), while an identical 35% in both parties are in favor. The ambivalence toward this proposal among Republicans holds across ideological lines. Even among conservative Republicans as many oppose (38%) as favor (34%) this proposal. And among people who say they agree with the Tea Party just 44% support this change, while 36% are opposed.
When it comes to dealing with Medicare, the Democrats have a 44% to 34% edge over the Republicans as the party who can do the best job. Even though this proposed change receives mixed reactions within each party base, most remain loyal to their party on the issue generally. For example, while just 35% of Republicans favor this particular proposal, 70% believe the GOP can do the better job of dealing with Medicare overall. A comparable 75% of Democrats say their party is best suited to handle Medicare, far higher than the 46% who oppose this particular issue. Independents are divided in their assessment, with 40% preferring the Democratic Party, and 33% the Republican Party, on the issue of Medicare.
Attention to the debate over Medicare is limited so far. Just one-in-five Americans (20%) say they have heard a lot about a proposal to change Medicare into a program that would give future participants a credit toward purchasing private health insurance coverage; half (50%) have heard a little about it, and 28% have heard nothing at all. Awareness is particularly low among younger Americans – fully 41% of adults under 30, and 34% of those ages 30-49, have heard nothing at all about this proposal. And politically, Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say they have heard a lot about this proposal (26% vs. 16%).
The lack of awareness goes a long way toward explaining some of the contradictory views many Americans hold on this issue. In particular, people under age 30 are the only major demographic group in which significantly more say they favor (46%) than oppose (28%) this proposed change. Yet this same cohort is far more likely to say the Democratic Party (49%) not the Republican Party (34%) can do a better job on this issue.
While there is little partisan difference overall in reactions to this proposed Medicare change, there is a distinct partisan divide among the very attentive. Democrats who have heard a lot about the proposal are far more likely to oppose it (69% vs. 38% of Democrats who have heard little or nothing). Similarly, independents who have heard a lot about this proposal are significantly more likely to oppose it than those who have not (51% vs. 37%). However, Republicans who have heard a lot about the proposal, if anything, are more likely to support it.
The analysis in this report is based on telephone interviews conducted May 25-30, 2011 among a national sample of 1,509 adults 18 years of age or older living in the continental United States (1,004 respondents were interviewed on a landline telephone, and 505 were interviewed on a cell phone, including 255 who had no landline telephone). The survey was conducted by interviewers at Princeton Data Source under the direction of Princeton Survey Research Associates International. A combination of landline and cell phone random digit dial samples were used; both samples were provided by Survey Sampling International. Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish. Respondents in the landline sample were selected by randomly asking for the youngest adult male or female who is now at home. Interviews in the cell sample were conducted with the person who answered the phone, if that person was an adult 18 years of age or older. For detailed information about our survey methodology, see http://people-press.org/methodology/
The combined landline and cell phone sample are weighted using an iterative technique that matches gender, age, education, race, Hispanic origin, region, and population density to parameters from the March 2010 Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey. The sample also is weighted to match current patterns of telephone status and relative usage of landline and cell phones (for those with both), based on extrapolations from the 2010 National Health Interview Survey. The weighting procedure also accounts for the fact that respondents with both landline and cell phones have a greater probability of being included in the combined sample and adjusts for household size within the landline sample. Sampling errors and statistical tests of significance take into account the effect of weighting.
Sample sizes and sampling errors for other subgroups are available upon request.
In addition to sampling error, one should bear in mind that question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of opinion polls.
and... all of those older attentive Americans happen to be liberals from New England... land of the moonbat !!
two things I note from a quick review of the data. 1) The sample is off. Republicans are vastly under-sampled, and independents and Dems are both over samples. 2) The younger groups are actually most favorable...and that group is the most affected. Older voters not even impacted are what is swaying the poll. Sad.
Another note...we are clearly winning over those that know nothing. I guess that is good. :)
Goodness knows I’m no expert on surveys but I got a little common sense going on in my head.
Anytime you have almost a quarter of the poll subjects having no opinion whatsoever, especially on an item that will affect EVERYBODY in America eventually, absolutely nothing can be derived from the poll results.
Using this common sense thing (which the Ruling class does not have, that’s why it’s called common), I daresay that this poll will move all over the place once the public learns more about the issue.
First, I’m not convinced “older” Americans are opposed to Ryan’s plan. In this poll they seem to be defining older as 50 and up.
Which is kind of misleading because everyone 55 and older is not affected by Ryan’s proposal. So you’re lumping a bunch of people totally non-affected by the plan in with a group of people VERY affected by the plan. Seems an awkward way to present the data but let me study it a little more.
My main point is, somebody wanted polls done over the Ryan proposal, unless the Pew people did it for free, possible I guess. And somebody wanted a result that they could use for political purposes, whatever they might have been.
This for a subject that’s still in its infancy and very vague to most of those polled.
To summarize, no sensible conclusions can be drawn from any poll where almost 1 out of 4 of those polled have no input.
Especially the ones 50 to 55 I bet. And by guess is by the time those over 55 find out it doesnt affect them it's too late for them to change their view of it, there is no way for them to rationalize why they should suddenly support it after opposing it. Just my guess.
Your view?
I’m 62 and not on any gov. trash except social security.
Medicare is killing the country! get rid of it!
I’ll survive just fine fine.
Country first!
RE: And by guess is by the time those over 55 find out it doesnt affect them it’s too late for them to change their view of it
________________________________________________________________________
I can understand the concern of those who are between 50 and 55. But why would those age 55 and above be concerned when Paul Ryan’s proposal DOES NOT AFFECT THEM AT ALL?
Are these the people Pew calls : Older, Attentive Americans?
HELLO.... They are not only inattentive, they are irrational.
Our nation is spending money we don't have like wildfire. We need to make some significant changes or we are going to sink like a stone.
“attentive” = those who faithfully read their AARP newsletter
Remember, the “older” folks still read newspapers, watch TV evening news and probably scan the AARP junk mail. Those three sources could be producing constant inaccurate propaganda.
They also won’t have to pay for the mess, their children will.
RE: Remember, the “older” folks still read newspapers, watch TV evening news and probably scan the AARP junk mail.
So, when Pew research calls these older folks being surveyed “Attentive”, this begs the question — ATTENTIVE TO WHAT?
If you are attentive towards biased propaganda, of course you are going to be negative towards the Ryan Plan.
This needs to be POUNDED into our Senior’s collective heads:
1) Medicare is going BANKRUPT. Doing nothing will ENSURE that this will happen and they won’t have anything when they need it.
2) Paul Ryan’s plan WILL NOT (REPEAT NOT ) AFFECT SENIORS 55 and above.
FReepers should know that Pew is a propaganda arm of the democrat party.
Here’s the thread:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1385598/posts
Anytime Pew honks its Marxist horn, the OP should direct FReepers to the above thread in the first post.
"Very attentive?" That's one way of looking at it. But listening to TV, radio, etc., can be an opportunity for brainwashing from both sides. If those over 55 think they would get the same deal as those under 55, they may have "heard a lot" but they don't understand.
However, there is real opposition to Ryancare, which could put Pelosi and Obama back in business in 2012, if the GOP just drifts along until then.
Lots of educating needs to happen.
Hussein’s plan is disaster.
“Attentive”? lulz.
More like from people who are easily mis-informed or who fell hook, line, and sinker for the Democrats Mediscare BS. How’s that for summing up the opposition to Medicare, Pew? Idiots. =.=
I’m going to have to admit, I don’t read everything that is proposed. When it gets more firm, I try to review a lot better.
Is this ready to go?
Somewhere along the line, we’re going to have to bite the bullet. Something has got to change.
That’s about all I know for sure.
I outlined the other problem case, Suppose the voter 57 first hears about the Ryan plan and is terrified of having to find a private insurer that will insure him for a price he can afford after retirement. And maybe he is uninsured now and his Mom is on medicare requiring all types of treatments he knows about.
But then he sees Ryan on FNC explain that the first people affected are those under 55 right now and he is relieved that it is not him. Does he suddenly support it now knowing he hated it when he thought it was him? If he flips and supports it now that he knows he is protected from it and will get HIS bills paid is that taking the moral high ground?
The further people are away from retirement the less they care about what will happen when they retire. But those in their 50s are in that age when they can both see their own parents problems and visualize their own requirement,
That makes sense.
Like I said before ..I dont hear anything comming out of DC that sounds like real cuts of real pork. Not hearing anything about cutting bridges to nowhere...and million dollar hammers...until then...well whats the point?
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