Majority Support for Public Option???

The President claimed, in his speech to Congress on Wednesday, that a majority of Americans support the idea of a "public option" for health insurance. Former DNC chairman Howard Dean repeats the claim almost every day on CNBC and liberal commentators such as Juan Williams of Fox News and National Public Radio repeat the claim often. But is it true?

Majority Support for a Public Option?

By Karlyn Bowman

Last night, in his combative healthcare speech, President Obama said, “it’s worth noting that a strong majority of Americans still favor a public insurance option of the sort I’ve proposed tonight.” Is that so? Yes, when questions mention that a public option would work like the popular Medicare program or when people are told it would give them more choices or options, ideas Americans always like. But the public option is less popular when people are told that it would be run by Washington. In the August NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, 43 percent were in favor and 47 percent were opposed to a public plan “administered by the federal government.” In follow-up questions, more people agreed with the statement that such a plan would limit access to doctors and treatments than agreed with the statement that it would lower costs and provide healthcare for all. When people have little knowledge of a subject, the information that pollsters give them can powerfully influence poll results.