In an ABCNEWS.com poll, 52 percent say they'd rather have the government spend more on health care for the uninsured than see it cut their taxes. And only 10 percent favor reducing these health services in order to pay for a tax cut.
Don't cut taxes, Cut taxes, Cut taxes,
spend more on keep health cut health
health services spending the same spending
4/8/01 52% 30 10
 President Bush's budget, released today, would cut a $125 million grant program that coordinates the development of community health centers for the uninsured. At the same time, it would create a $2,000 per-year tax credit to help uninsured people buy health insurance. Even those who don't pay taxes would be eligible.
The budget calls for a 10-year, $1.6 trillion tax cut. Polling consistently has show that, while cutting taxes is not unpopular, many people have other priorities for federal spending, as well as suspicions about the fairness and impact of a big tax cut.
Share the Wealth
There's some altruism in this poll's result, since only about 15 percent of adults lack health insurance. But there's also some self-interest: Spending more on health care for the uninsured is most popular by far among low-income people, who are more likely to be uninsured and less likely to get a big tax cut. And it's least popular in top-income households, whose tax cut would be the fattest.
Spend more on health care for the uninsured,
rather than cutting my taxes
Annual family income:
Less than $25,000 67%
$25,000-$50,000 52
$50,000-100,000 49
More than $100,000 37
There are similar big differences by race, with blacks much more likely than whites to favor more spending on health care for the uninsured.
Methodology
This ABCNEWS.com survey was conducted by telephone April 4-8 among a random national sample of 1,021 adults. The results have a three-point error margin. Sampling, data collection and tabulation were done by TNS Intersearch of Horsham, Pa.
ABCNEWS polls can be found on the Internet in our Poll Vault.
|
PRINT THIS PAGE
