Special Edition American Pulse™: Americans Weigh in on Healthcare Debate
Majority Say U.S. Can’t Afford Proposed Healthcare Legislation
COLUMBUS, OH – (MARKET WIRE) – 7/29/09 – 56% of Americans think that the U.S.
cannot afford the proposed trillion-dollar plus healthcare legislation as
debates reach a fevered pitch on Capitol Hill, according to the July American
Pulse™ (N=4022) Survey. 37% of Democrats, 83.2% of Republicans and 55.5% of
Independents agree.
In addition to the proposed reform costing too much, almost half (49.1%) of
Americans feel that Congress is rushing the legislation. 27.7% say members are
not, while 23.2% aren’t sure. Interestingly, over one-third (37.7%) say the U.S.
government shouldn’t be involved in healthcare at all (45.4% say it should and
16.9% don’t know).
When it comes to whether those who make more than $350,000 should pay higher
taxes to cover the cost of U.S. healthcare reform, Americans tend to think they
should. Over half (53.2%) say higher taxes should be imposed on the “wealthy.”
On the other hand, 29.6% say they shouldn’t have to pay more.
Ultimately, 41.1% feel that if the reform becomes law that U.S. healthcare will
be worse than it is currently:
If the
healthcare reform becomes law, do you think healthcare will become...
Adults 18+ Republicans Democrats Independents
Better
34.1% 13.1%
55.5% 29.8%
Worse
41.1% 70.6%
19.7% 43.0%
Same
24.9%
16.3% 24.8% 27.2%
Source: American Pulse-July 09
For
additional complimentary data (segments include age, income, gender and
political party):
http://americanpulse.bigresearch.com.
Verbatim
posts from the BIGresearch and Artafact Blog on taxing higher income earners...
“To force
persons of higher incomes to pay taxes based on an unequal tax scale is
Socialist.”
“To cry 'socialism' when a country is asked to share the wealth and take care of
the least advantaged is the cry of selfish, self-centered individuals living in
the past of kings and queens, not democracy.”
About American
Pulse™
The American
Pulse™ Survey is collected online by BIGresearch every
month exclusively utilizing Survey Sampling International’s (SSI) U.S. panel
covering topics such as politics, pop culture and the economy. Over 4,000
respondents participate, providing greater insights into how Americans really
feel about issues they currently face. The use of the Artafact online blog as a
listening post to develop the questions posed in the monthly American Pulse
survey is a very effective use of both online qualitative and quantitative
research.
http://www.bigresearch.com
About Survey Sampling International (SSI)
Survey Sampling International is the premier global provider of
sampling solutions for survey research. SSI offers access to more than 6 million
consumer and business-to-business research respondents in 54 countries via
Internet, telephone, and mobile. Additional client services include custom
profiling, survey programming and hosting, data processing, sampling consulting,
and survey optimization. SSI serves more than 1,800 marketing research clients,
including nearly three-quarters of the top researchers worldwide. Founded in
1977, SSI has an international staff of 400 people representing 50 countries and
36 languages. The company is based in Shelton, CT with 14 additional offices
worldwide.
http://www.surveysampling.com
Contacts:
BIGresearch
SSI
Chrissy Wissinger
Diane Urso
chrissy@bigresearch.com
diane_urso@SurveySampling.com
614.846.0146
203.567.7236