WPost: President Signs Medicare Measure (Poll shows more disapprove)

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47364-2003Dec8.html

A new poll shows public opinion up for grabs on the subject, with large numbers of Americans saying they did not pay attention to the legislation and still had no opinion about it. The Washington Post-ABC News poll also found that a plurality of Americans near or beyond retirement age disapproved of the new law.

When asked whether they approved or disapproved "of the Medicare changes voted on by Congress last month," the public broke roughly into thirds: 38 percent said they disapproved, 32 percent approved, and 30 percent did not yet have an opinion. But these proportions mask real partisan divides on the subject: Republicans with an opinion favor the bill 2 to 1 (49 percent vs. 23 percent), while Democrats oppose it roughly 2 to 1 (52 percent vs. 22 percent). Political independents leaned toward opposition.

The poll suggests that a plurality of those ages 65 and above currently oppose the bill. Forty-seven percent said they disapproved of the changes to Medicare, while 26 percent supported the legislation. Those in the 55-to-64 age group were similarly opposed, 46 percent to 32 percent.

"This is a surprisingly tepid response to this big legislation," said Andrew Kohut, a nonpartisan pollster who directs the Pew Research Center polls. "The Congress and the president aren't getting any credit for trying. I would have guessed that the approval scores would've been higher." Only 17 percent said they were following the legislation closely, which Kohut called "extraordinarily low" for major policy issues, which are typically followed closely by twice that many Americans.

[Corgigal]

1. Poor Bushie

NO big bounce for letting all them poor folk get their drugs instead of eating a can of dog food. Who knew they would actually understand it. LOL

[whathappened]

2. this new bill

is the best kept underhanded bill i have seen so far , i really don't no what to think about it , but i'm sure worried about this bill , is this thing going to cost us who are useing it more money which we don't have , i keep hearing about all it will cost us is 35 bucks more for all we will get , now i for one don't have a extra 35 a month to send to jr. so he can spend it on some dam fool thing that has nothing to do with helping people and there medicine

[Mountainman]

3. You can't buy supplemental gap insurance and you can't buy drugs from

Canada.

Now how does that party that touts market values say to Americans, "you have to pay inflated prices for your drugs because we want our friends in the drug industry to make more money off of you?"

[0007]

9. If true, the senior will soon be sleeping under bridges and dying..

like flies.

[cosmicdot]

4. large numbers of Americans ... they did not pay attention

how sad is that?

and, for a good portion of 2004 votes, they'll be counting on the same

[aquart]

5. This was supposed to give the Republicans a great big boost.

It was supposed to make them look like they had hearts and, you know, compassion.

Nobody but their basic one-third base seems to be buying it.

You can fool some of the people all of the time.

[aquart]

6. Americans COULDN'T follow it closely.

It was done in secret. The provisions were voted on after barely being read.

Golly, all that positive attention a good bill would have gotten from the discussion and openness, all that didn't happen.

It was a secret so nobody knew anything about it.

HAH! Hoist up the ass with their own petard.

[joeunderdog]

11. They were passing so much legislation all at once...

it was like stuffing a Turkey at Thanksgiving. They should be glad that people weren't able to follow closely, and on some level, I think they ARE.

The seniors will catch up and the Dems are helping to educate. It could come to bear by election time.

Don't fuck with the elderly unless you're ready to leave office.

[dusty64]

7. I'm glad people see

this plan for what it REALLY is. I don't expect the rethugs to get a bounce out of this and in fact think it will bite em in the ass. Citizens and many genuine conservatives are starting to see this bunch as the money grubbing big spenders that they are. They will stop at nothing to gorge at the public trough, "welfare kings and queens" indeed.

[cthrumatrix]

8. this is a HUGE campaign issue...and shrub will be buried

he and the AARP sold out seniors

[individual]

10. Medicare campaign issue

Will we know how to use this issue to our advantage? From the past two political years, I doubt it. I have been trying to find out exactly who is scheduled to get this 400+ billion over 10 years. For example, employers apparently will get a subsidy to continue their coverage for retirees. Does anybody know exactly who is scheduled to get the medicare money over the next 10 years? And why (1) do seniors have to wait two years to get benefits (2) is there a gap in coverage from 2200 to 3600? We should get answers to these questions, forthwith.

[Malva Zebrina]

12. no answers

that is the strategy and it worked. Send a hugely complicated 400 page bill to the floor, break rules to get it passed in the House, have the president and his cronies threaten those who do not vote for it, pass it in the middle of the night and then get the fool to act like a clown, a big assed clown, signing it for a photo op with a headline that implies that Bush "did what he promised for seniors"

That is why "with large numbers of Americans saying they did not pay attention to the legislation and still had no opinion about it" happens.


By the time it comes due, people will have forgotten all about what it is and what it does--add to that the propaganda and the lies that will become a meme, and voila--we the seniors, are screwed without ever having uttered a protest because it is just too complicated.