Poll: Americans divided on health care overhaul

WASHINGTON -- As supporters and opponents of overhauling the health care system try to shape public opinion at congressional town-hall-style meetings, both sides face a big complication: Public opinion on the issue is complex in ways that defy an easy Republican-Democratic divide.

Analysis of a recent USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds views on what priority to emphasize, how fast to act and what's important to protect vary and sometimes conflict depending on a person's age and region of the country, whether he or she has insurance, and is healthy or ailing.

Seniors are by far the most resistant to the idea of changing the current system — an opening for opponents who have focused on proposed cuts in Medicare spending and accusations about planning for "end-of-life" care. The idea of controlling insurance costs has broader support overall than expanding coverage for the uninsured, which has prompted the White House to begin describing its goal as "insurance reform."

Meanwhile, in an op-ed article in today's USA TODAY, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, both Democrats, decry what they call "un-American" tactics used to disrupt some congressional forums.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell on Fox News Sunday accused Democrats of trying "to demonize citizens who are energetic about this."

An analysis of results from a USA TODAY survey July 10-12 illustrates some of the crosscurrents in public opinion. The poll of 3,026 adults has a margin of error of +/—2 percentage points. The poll found:

•Significant differences on what the key goal of a health care overhaul should be. Two-thirds of blacks and six in 10 Hispanics say it should be expanding coverage to the uninsured, but six in 10 whites say controlling costs. Westerners are inclined to say expanding coverage is more important; Southerners say it's controlling costs.

•Challenges in convincing most Americans that it is urgent to act this year, as Obama argues. There's less urgency among those who have insurance and whose health is excellent or good — groups that make up the majority of those polled.

•Resistance among seniors. Fewer than half of seniors polled want an overhaul enacted this year.