survey says?
So the new Gallup poll said a majority of Americans are happy with the final health care bill health care law. Why the sudden switch from previous polls? The big TV pundits had lots of theories, but most didn’t mention the one that Wolf Blitzer let slip out:
“…if you take a closer look at people who didn’t like it [before it passed], about 12% of those people who said they didn’t like it they didn’t like it because they didn’t think it went far enough. They wanted a single payer option, they wanted the so-called public option, they didn’t like not from the right, they didn’t like it because it wasn’t left or liberal enough.
That’s how you got 50% of the American people who said, “we don’t like this plan.” But only about 40 or 38% were the ones who said it was too much government interference…”
In other words the supposed anti-reform majority may well never have been a majority in the first place?
And technically my headline should have read “Lies, Damned Lies, and the Stuff Reporters Say For Six Straight Months Before Finally Noticing They Weren’t Reading The Poll Results Correctly”?
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Is it that they weren’t reading it correctly? or that with the 24 hour news cycles cluster eff they needed the dramatic edge to able to say that there was X amount of opposition and X was huge. It doesn’t far fetched to think that they had the break down in from of them the whole time.
Is it that they weren’t reading it correctly? or that with the 24 hour news cycles cluster eff they needed the dramatic edge to able to say that there was X amount of opposition and X was huge. It doesn’t SEEM far fetched to think that they had the break down in FRONT of them the whole time. (sorry for the typos … its early)
i agree. i’ve always thought the “anti-healthcare majority” was conservative spin, and an attempt to pretend polls reporting 72% of Americans wanted health coverage were false. it’s what conservatives do when they’re in the minority: make shit up.
Well said sarah i agree 100%.
Not only was it conservative spin but it was also health insurance lobby spin. I remember reading a washington post article awhile back that said the “non partisan” think tank that the republicans, hannity and others have been quoting as “independent” numbers on health care – The Lewin Group – was actually wholly owned by United Health Group, one of the nations largest insurers. The reality is alot of corporate players did not want to see the public option happen because they want to continue to see record profits.
Man I saw this interview. That Republican congressman was all ready with facts and numbers to say “the American People” weren’t for this healthcare bill. As soon as Wolf actually categorized why certain ones weren’t for it and the new Gallup Poll that had like 55% of American liking the final bill now all of a sudden he doesn’t trust the numbers. Word? Quit it.
Color me not shocked at all. It’s not surprising; it’s far sexier to paint a picture of this epic struggle about government intrusion and the will of the people than it is to actually go, hey, you know most people like this bill, and a lot think we should be doing more. Sigh. Never mind, you know, actual truth.
gosh, wouldn’t it be nice if journalists could be held accountable for the truth of their stories? instead of the ratings they could supposedly generate (cuz, really, they don’t actually know if they way they’re presenting these stories is getting them more ratings than if they presented them in a truthful and well-researched manner, it’s all based on assumption) or how much they support the conservative framework (like at fox).
like, if they could be disbarred or have their licenses taken away like lawyers and doctors? cuz, i mean, they’re only responsible for keeping the populace informed and educated in a democracy. that’s obviously not as important as suing people.
*sigh* a girl can dream, can’t she?
Funny thing about polls is that they can be fixed to justify what ever talking point you wish to make. The Fake News network aka Fox is the worst offender. Polls only work when you have a large cross section of society. I was one of those people who didn’t like the health care bill…Only because it didn’t go far enough.