A hint for political candidates everywhere

[Guest guest]

S

Fri, 21 Oct 2005 23:06:28 -0700 (PDT)

Dems should take note of these poll results and embrace a

progressive vision — with both arms

 

 

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/5591.html

 

 

A hint for political candidates everywhere

 

A decade ago, things didn't quite work out for the Clinton White House

when it launched an initiative to reform the nation's health care

system. The public, Republicans said, just won't accept a liberal

approach to health care. (Whether the Clinton plan was really liberal

or not was largely irrelevant.)

 

More than 10 years later, evidence still shows how wrong the right is

on this issue. A new poll published by the Wall Street Journal shows

remarkable support for a progressive health care agenda.

 

The results of the poll (which are available to non-rs)

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB112973460667273222-hi2oNjz0YWdcw9XgKgUwBF\

9VlBA_20061019.html?mod=tff_main_tff_top

should be a big hint to policy makers and candidates about where the

public is when it comes to these issues.

 

* Universal health insurance — Support is overwhelming for

universal insurance, with 75% supporting it and only 7% opposed.

 

* Medicare — 96% support it. When one compares " strongly support "

vs. " strongly oppose, " it's 80% to 1%. The numbers were nearly

identical for Medicaid.

 

* Embryonic stem cell research — 70% support it, 19% oppose it.

 

* Sexual health — Americans strongly approve of the use of

contraception (93% to 4%), sex education in high school (87% to 10%),

funding of international HIV prevention and treatment programs (87% to

10%), funding of international birth control programs (70% to 21%),

and even abortion centers (63% to 32%).

 

I would have guessed pretty strong support for these policies, but

these results are really one sided.

 

Granted, the questions seemed to approach the issues in a very general

way. " Universal health care " wasn't defined (single payer? vouchers?),

and the results may differ once details such as cost enter the

picture. The poll also doesn't tell us where health care falls among

voters' list of priorities.

 

Nevertheless, when it comes to politics, Dems in particular should

take note of these poll results and embrace a progressive vision —

with both arms. http://thecarpetbaggerreport.com/