The Wall Street Journal reports this morning:
The latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News brings bad news for Democrats when it comes to passing a health care bill.
For the first time in our polling, more Americans said they’d rather stick with the status quo on health care than pass the Democrats’ bill.
More than four out of ten, 44%, of respondents said it is better to not pass the plan and to keep the current system versus 41% who said it is better to enact the proposed health care overhaul.
Because the poll question presented a false and overly constricted choice, I believe the opposition to the president’s plan is far greater than 44 – 41. Respondents were asked:
Do you think it would be better to pass Obama’s health-care plan and make its changes to the health-care system or to not pass this plan and keep the current health care system?
A more revealing and realistic question would have been:
Do you think it would be better to pass Obama’s health-care plan and make its changes to the health-care system or to not pass this plan and start from scratch to create a new plan for reform?
The choice, after all, is not between Obama’s plan and maintaining the current system forever. It is between Obama’s plan and the plan that would be proposed by this Congress or, even better, the next Congress if Obama’s plan is rejected.
