Small Biz Health Care Daily: Critical Poll on Health Care Agenda

Last week, the StartOver! coalition - of which the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council is a member - released a poll of likely voters in 11 key congressional districts across the nation.

The key finding? Voters in those districts oppose current health reform legislation advocated by President Obama and Democratic Leaders in Congress and the strategy being employed to pass it.

A release on The Tarrance Group poll reported:

Across all 11 featured districts; four of which feature freshmen Democratic Members who were elected in “open” seat races in 2008, five of which feature first-term Democratic Members who defeated Republican incumbents in 2008, and two of which feature second-term Democratic Members, 52.7% of respondents oppose the Democratic health care bill and 58.5% oppose the use of extraordinary budget “reconciliation” procedures to get it done over GOP objections.

“Outright majorities in 10 of the 11 Congressional Districts polled oppose the Democratic health care bill – there’s a six-point opposition plurality in one – and strong majorities in all 11 districts object to the use of reconciliation procedures to move health care reform through the Congress and to the President’s desk,” said Tarrance’s Dave Sackett. “A key reason for such widespread opposition is revealed in our question about the impact of this issue on their taxes. Across the 11 Congressional Districts polled, 77% say their taxes are going to go up if the Democrats are successful in enacting their health care agenda into law. In no district does that number dip below 73%,” Sackett said.

Read the release here.

Read key results here.