American Pulse™: The More People Learn, the Less They Like the Healthcare Reform

            38% Say Global Warming Legislation Can Wait Given State of Economy, Over 40% Say Obama’s Afghanistan Strategy Won’t Work

COLUMBUS, OH – (MARKET WIRE) – 12/8/09 – President Obama and elected officials in Washington are busy this Holiday season–from overhauling healthcare, global warming legislation to waging a war in Afghanistan; it’s enough to make your head spin. But even with the holidays in full swing, Americans are paying attention. According to the latest American Pulse™ Survey of over 6,000 people, 56.2% say the more they hear about the proposed healthcare bill, the less they like it. On the other hand, 18.5% like it more.

Regarding global warming, the majority (52.3%) believe it’s a threat to humanity. And while 43.4% say it needs to be addressed by Congress now, 37.6% of Americans think it can wait given the state of the economy.

It appears that ‘Climategate’ has had an effect on Americans’ opinions of climate change. Since the email scandal broke, an additional 9.1% have become skeptical of the global warming theory as a result of the gaffe at the East Anglia Climate Research Unit (31.2% say they were always skeptical). On the other hand, 45.7% still think the international community needs to address global warming and 14% don’t know.

On to yet another hot topic in Washington: Afghanistan. 40.9% of Americans say President Obama’s strategy for Afghanistan will not work. 44.1% aren’t sure while 15% say it will. A possible reason people think that the troop surge won’t work could be that they feel troops don’t have enough time to get the job done. 54.2% say the U.S. cannot win the war in the 18-month timeline President Obama outlined. 31.8% don’t know if it will work and 14% say it will.

For full complimentary report (including results by political party, age, gender and income): http://americanpulse.bigresearch.com.

About American Pulse™
The American Pulse™ Survey includes over 5,000 participants and 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. With a sampling error of +/- 1.4%, the survey provides accurate insights into how Americans really feel about issues they currently face. 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                                              Gloria Mellinger
chrissy@bigresearch.com                                   gloria_mellinger@SurveySampling.com
614.846.0146                                                     203.567.7236