MSNBC report distorts NBC/WSJ poll results

[ProSense]

PUBLIC OPTION LOSING PUBLIC SUPPORT?....

As recently as June, the public support for a public option as part of health care reform seemed very strong. An NYT poll found 72% of Americans -- including 50% of Republicans -- favoring such a plan. An NBC/WSJ poll found 76% of Americans believing that it's important to "give people a choice of both a public plan administered by the federal government and a private plan for their health insurance."

Over the last two months, right-wing attacks have changed the landscape considerably. A new NBC poll shows support for a public option falling behind opposition for the first time.

In the poll, 43 percent say they favor a public option, versus 47 percent who oppose it. That's a shift from last month's NBC/Journal poll, when 46 percent said they backed it and 44 percent were opposed.

There is, however, a catch -- NBC changed the wording of the question. Respondents were asked, "Would you favor or oppose creating a public health care plan administered by the federal government that would compete directly with private health insurance companies?" Opponents outnumbered supporters.

In June, the same poll asked, "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, or not at all important?" In this case, 76% thought it was important to give people a choice.

The wording, then, makes all the difference. A Quinnipiac poll from two weeks ago asked, "Do you support or oppose giving people the option of being covered by a government health insurance plan that would compete with private plans?" A 62% majority supported the public option. An NYT poll from late July asked, "Would you favor or oppose the government offering everyone a government administered health insurance plan -- something like the Medicare coverage that people 65 and older get -- that would compete with private health insurance plans?" A 66% majority approved.

It's probably safe to assume the conservative attacks on reform have had an effect, and support for a public option has fallen in recent months. But I suspect we'll hear a lot of talk today about the NBC poll, with most of the commentary concluding that the public has soured on the idea. It's not quite that simple.

The MSNBC report, http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/08/18/2033674.aspx">NBC POLL: PLURALITY OPPOSES PUBLIC OPTION, also said this:

In a follow-up question explaining the benefits and disadvantages associated with a public plan, 45% said they agreed with the description -- by supporters -- that it would help lower health-care costs and provide coverage for uninsured Americans.

But 48% sided with opponents who say a public option would reduce access to their choice of doctors, and would lower costs by limiting medical treatment options.

It's true that 45% responded in that way to one question:

"Please tell me which ONE statement you agree with more on the issue of creating a new public health plan administered by the federal government.

"Some/Other people say it would help lower health care costs because it would compete with private health plans. This new public plan would provide coverage for the uninsured and all Americans would have an option for quality affordable health care.

"Some/Other people say that patients might not always have access to their choice of doctors and the government would lower costs by limiting medical treatment options and decisions that should be made instead by patients and doctors." Options rotated

8/15-17/09
Lower costs, Care for all 45

Limit access, Limit options 48%

What the report doesn't say is that the 45% is up from 41% in previous poll.

Also in typical disingenuous fashion the report fails to mention this from the current poll:

"Now I am going to tell you more about the health care plan that President Obama supports and please tell me whether you would favor or oppose it. The plan requires that health insurance companies cover people with pre-existing medical conditions. It also requires all but the smallest employers to provide health coverage for their employees, or pay a percentage of their payroll to help fund coverage for the uninsured. Families and individuals with lower- and middle-incomes would receive tax credits to help them afford insurance coverage. Some of the funding for this plan would come from raising taxes on wealthier Americans. Do you favor or oppose this plan?"

8/15-17/09
Favor 53%
Oppose 43%

So 53% supported Obama's plan when described.



edited typo.

[ProSense]

1. Is someone disappointed that Obama's plan has support? n/t

[Medusa]

2. What else do we expect from Chuckie T

who is the point person on spinning all things pro-GOP?

[Cha]

3. Gosh, Pro Sense..it's a full time job

revealing the lies of the corporatemediawhoredom!

Thanks for keepin' it straight on DU.

[grantcart]

11. and she does it in a highly professional manner too

A major asset to DU.

[unpossibles]

4. interesting

(this is something I am pasting from another board where I wrote it, so apologies for repeating a couple of points you made)

http://pollingreport.com/health.htm
Interesting polling: in the NBC poll, notice how a majority disapproves of Obama's health care plan, yet a larger majority says that major or complete overhaul is needed (39%, 21% respectively compared to minor or no changes), and when the plan currently on the table is actually described without all of the hype and fear mongering, a majority supports the plan, 53% to 43%.

So are people opposing the actual plan, or what they think is the plan?

Also, going along with what I see as the disinformation campaign, I notice that while most are unchanged by the townhall outbursts, slightly more people (19% v. 16%) have lessened support for Obama based solely on the townhallls! In other words, almost 20% of those polled were convinced this is a bad plan based on what they are hearing at the townhall disruptions: unrealistic fear of socialism, lies about death panels, delusional comparisons to Nazis, falsehoods about the plan helping illegal immigrants, higher taxes, etc.

Again, it appears that what people are opposing is not even the real plan, and a rather sad percentage of people are getting their information from unreliable sources. A lot of those polled actually think that the plan:

"Will give health insurance coverage to illegal immigrants" - 55%
"Will lead to a government takeover of the health care system" - 54%
"Will use taxpayer dollars to pay for women to have abortions" - 50%
"Will allow the government to make decisions about when to stop providing medical care to the elderly" - 45%

None of those things are even remotely true, yet almost half of respondents think they are true about the plan.

Now scroll down to FOX's version of the polls, which shows quite a jump from all of the others. Ok, enough comedy.

Anyway, I notice that within almost all of these polls, when you get down to the actual details of the bill, and more importantly to allowing people to choose a public option, a majority of people still seem to support that idea even when the same poll shows that a majority of people disagree with Obama's handling of the situation, and even when they are satisfied with their own insurance. A majority of people still want change, and a large majority still support the idea of a government health plan which competes alongside private insurance.

Anyway, I just found these polls to be interesting, and seeing the details says a lot more than a blanket statement of who approves/disapproves, especially when some of those who disapprove apparently seem to do so because not enough is being done for public health care, and a majority feel major changes are necessary and need to be done now.

[nc4bo]

5. So bizarre that MS-NBC would distort a poll by NBC and then report about it

Tail wagging the dog or would that be dog wagging it's tail?

:party: :silly: :dunce: :wtf:

[OHdem10]

6. Right now The Media are "Spinning the Polls". They do this to try

to influence the Public.

The have been doing this for years. Just one more thing
that makes the public distrust them.

Here is what the Media have done to themselves.

When they saw the what the Republicans were doing and they
being rather dense took a long time to understand the GOP
Ploy. The began to try to Debunk the Myths. A poll which
show a goodly number of Americans believe those crazy myths.

Lack of trust in the Media means people do not trust the Media
when they try to Debunk. This is not good for Democracy.

[LooseWilly]

7. The current MSNBC headline regarding these polls is 'Americans Still Skeptical About Obama's Plans'

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32464936/ns/politics-white_house/

The sub-headline is
'NBC poll: Misperceptions abound on president's health overhaul initiative'

What Chuck Todd has done is analyze the polls. He rightly points out that there are misconceptions, and that, once Obama's plans are read to those being polled, 53% support the plan.

The byzantine interpretation of the MSNBC interpretations that you quote are just as misleading as the interpretations that they are interpreting (just talking about it is byzantine)

For instance the portion of the interpretation that you quote regarding

"Please tell me which ONE statement you agree with more on the issue of creating a new public health plan administered by the federal government.
...

analyzes this by noting "What the report doesn't say is that the 45% is up from 41% in previous poll." ... However, what your quoted interpretation itself "doesn't say" is that the 41% mentioned was hugely down from the 47% on 6/12-15/09... which leads to a final analysis of an overall drop of public agreement with the statement that "others" are making that a Public Option would lower costs from June...

Is that a basis for criticism of Obama's handling of the healthcare issue?... or simply a basis for congratulating the Republicans and their PR minions for a fine job?... That's up to you.

The interpretations of your source, however, are just as biased as the interpretations of MSNBC interpreters, or you or I... but the tone of your OP- as so clearly demonstrated by the title "MSNBC report distorts NBC/WSJ poll results" suggests that MSNBC is doing something nefarious... and is not to be trusted ("distorts" is a very loaded word)... rather than suggesting that there are other possible interpretations, and one should dive into the actual poll results and do some interpretation for oneself, if one is not a fan of "establishment interpretations".

What am I trying to say? I'm saying that your OP "distorts" the poll results just as much as any other interpretation does.

[AspenRose]

8. Bastards.

The trouble these people go through....to LIE. x(

[prostomulgus]

9. This is why we have DU.

To catch stuff like this and bring out the truth. Even though MSNBC is not as far to the hard right as other networks, it is still a corporation and therefore can never be trusted. Everything on it must be viewed skeptically.

[Undercurrent]

10. Pollster Behind NBC/WSJ Public Option Poll - Ties To Insurance Industry

An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll released on Tuesday, authored by Republican pollster Bill McInturff and Democratic pollster Peter Hart, showed a majority of respondents opposing a public option for insurance coverage. McInturff is one of the most respected pollsters in Washington, and his work is often treated as straightforward and honest. But the pollsters' decision to alter the language of their August survey has raised the eyebrows of industry observers.

Instead of asking whether people should be given a choice between a public and private plan -- as NBC/WSJ had done in its June 2009 survey -- the pollsters dropped the word "choice" in their July and August polls. In its place they asked whether people favored or opposed creating a public plan to compete with private insurers. Whereas two months ago, 76 percent of respondents said they felt it was either extremely or quite important to have a public option, in August that number was down to 43 percent.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/19/pollster-behind-controver_n_263057.html



Yet another example of media distortion, spin, and bald faced lying!

[ProSense]

12. Thanks for the information. n/t