Framing, phrasing, and CHOICE - update to correct typo

Phrasing of questions makes a huge difference in polls.

SurveyUSA included the term "choice" in their question. Their August 19, 2009, poll - sponsored by MoveOn.org Political Action - yielded this result. [1200 Adults; margin of sampling error ± 2.9%]

Q. In any health care proposal, how important do you feel it is to give people a choice of both a public plan administered by the federal government and a private plan for their health insurance - extremely important, quite important, not that important, not at all important, not sure?

In tabular form the results are these:

Extremely important....58%
Quite important........19%
Not that important..... 7%
Not at all important...15%
Not sure............... 1%

Jed Lewison notes this:

If the question wording here sounds familiar, it's because NBC News and the Wall Street Journal used the exact same question in a poll conducted in June. That poll found nearly identical results to the one released today by MoveOn.org and SurveyUSA.

He also observes that recent NBC/WSJ polls drop the word choice and support for a public plan drops to 43%.

So, if we include the issue of choice, which is part of all the current proposals for a public OPTION, 77% of the public think it's important. Or, as Lewison puts it in the header of his post:

More than 3 in 4 support the public option

So let's put to rest the distortions, misleading comments, and outright lies that say or imply that the people are not behind a public option.

And if "the votes aren't there" in the Senate, then shame on the Senate because the American people want this (protest signs that I saw yesterday to the contrary notwithstanding).


--the BB