New poll finds that 39 percent of Americans want government to ‘stay out of Medicare.’

[stevedeshazer]

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/08/19/americans-poll-out-medicare/

As ThinkProgress has noted before, conservatives have frequently obscured the fact that Medicare is a government-run single-payer program. Constituents appearing at health care town halls have even demanded that their members of Congress keep their “government hands off of Medicare.” Now, a new Public Policy Polling poll finds that millions of Americans do not realize that the federal government runs Medicare:

One poll question indicative of how difficult it is to gain public understanding on a complicated issue asked if respondents thought the government should ‘stay out of Medicare,’ something inherently impossible. 39% said yes.

The poll also shows that an additional 15% of respondents were “not sure” if the government should be involved in Medicare. Only 46% of respondents disagreed with the proposition that the government should stay out of the government-run program.

----

How can people be so damn stupid?

:wow:

[Warpy]

1. They're the same dumbfucks

who think the sun orbits the earth and "The Flintstones" was a documentary.

[mrcheerful]

2. Fuks News

[JenniferJuniper]

3. Pray tell,

Who do they think is running Medicare? The Magic Man in the Clouds?

[rox63]

4. OWWWW!!! The Stupid, it burns!!!!

:banghead:

[Geek_Girl]

5. Our country will never progress unless our citizens start using some intelligence.

I came to this conclusion after the 2004 election. I've actually have given up on our country because I have come to realize that I live in a nation of complete idiots.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

10. I agree. But how do we do it?.............

If folks continue to take the lies of Limbaugh, Beck and FauxNews as gospel, and vehemently shout down facts, what chance do we have? It feels almost like a lost cause to me in that there are so many folks residing in their own little subjective realities, refusing to join the thinking world at large. These folks are so selfish that they are willing to kill any kind of proactive change to defend the insular world they reside in.

[mitchum]

6. mitchum finds that 39 percent of Americans are incredibly stupid fuckwits

[Historic NY]

7. You can't fix stupid..with health care, thats for sure.

[ClusterFreak]

8. Sez it all.

:banghead:

[fascisthunter]

9. lol.... again

[The Doctor.]

11. I imagine some may have interpreted the question to mean;

"Don't let gov't mess with medicare.

"Hands off" is not explicit enough.

[Control-Z]

17. I think you're being

far too generous.

[The Doctor.]

18. Yeah, could be.

60% of those that wanted to bomb Iraq couldn't find it on a map, so I guess this isn't so far off.

[kiranon]

12. So enlarge Medicare and 39% of the people won't know it's a government program.

Start by bringing children in and those with disabilities and chronic conditions until over time everyone can opt in to Medicare. Unbelievable that 39% of those polled do not know that Medicare is a government program. Anyone who does not want to be part of Medicare is free to opt out and buy insurance on the open market. "Medicare the stealth government program." Who knew? (sarcasm)

[DemReadingDU]

13. Exactly!

Although, I would first bring in anyone who is uninsured, followed by everything else you said. The Medicare system is already in place, nothing new to maintain. Must be too simple of an idea.

[FatDave]

14. Beat me to it.

If it's not a government program, then why not let anybody join?

[stevedeshazer]

16. You may be on to something here!

[marmar]

15. Somewhere a box of rocks is feeling intellectually superior to 39 percent of America.....

:dunce: :dunce: :dunce:

[Mr. Sparkle]

19. wow, is that the reach of the fake right wing news machine ... 39% of the population !!

We BADLY need media reform !

[Touchdown]

20. I wonder if Europe needs a phone tech with a cat and a big TV?

I'm almost done.:(

[spanone]

21. land of the free and home of the stupid 39%