As the General Assembly gets set to take up the Protect Health Care Freedom bill, new numbers on voter sentiment about the federal health care legislation and proposed state legislation are out.
A recent PPP release said independent voters, who supported Republican candidates this past November, are not in line with the party on this issue: “There are more independents- 35%- who want to see the health care bill strengthened than there are- 33%- who would like the bill to be completely repealed.” They go on to say:
“This issue is a great example of where Republican could cause themselves trouble this year by over reading their mandate. Independents may have voted for them last year but that didn’t mean they agreed with everything in the GOP agenda and this is a case where there’s some tension between the priorities of the new majority and the voters who made it possible.”
Civitas, however, found that there is unanimous support among voters for protecting patients’ rights as Republican (72 percent yes-17 percent no) and Democratic voters (58 percent yes-30 percent no) said the state Legislature should pass a law to protect patients’ rights. Unaffiliated voters also agree by a 56 percent-29 percent margin.
In addition, 36% of Unaffiliated voters said their opinion of the new federal health care reform bill is very unfavorable (cross tabs available here).
As this debate is sure to get heated, Republican legislators can rest assured that the voters of North Carolina, from all parties, stand behind them in calling for freedom of choice and protecting their rights to participate or not in a health insurance plan.
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