Despite polling, Andrea Mitchell saw “general election” problem for Clinton on health care

Written by Julie Millican

Published


While reporting on Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's (D-NY) recently unveiled universal health-care proposal during the September 18 edition of NBC's Today, NBC chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell said that “the real problem for Clinton” may be “selling the plan in the general election campaign.” As evidence, Mitchell pointed to attacks on Clinton by Republican presidential candidates Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney over her health-care proposal. But, Mitchell did not note that, in fact, public opinion polling shows that the majority of Americans support a national health insurance program.

A September 14-16 CBS News poll found that 55 percent of respondents favored “having one health insurance program covering all Americans that would be administered by the government and paid for by taxpayers.” Specifically, 67 percent of Democrats, 52 percent of Independents, and 43 percent of Republicans favored this. Twenty-nine percent indicated a preference for the “current system” (including 47 percent of Republicans, 17 percent of Democrats, and 28 percent of Independents). The poll analysis also stated, “In addition, 76% think the fact that many Americans do not have health insurance is a very serious problem for the U.S.”

Additionally, as Media Matters for America has previously noted, several polls taken in May and June also found that a majority of respondents favored a government program to provide health insurance to all Americans:

  • In a May 4-6 CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll, 64 percent of respondents said they “think the government should provide a national health insurance program for all Americans, even if this would require higher taxes.”
  • In a May 31-June 5 poll conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International for the Kaiser Family Foundation, 53 percent of respondents -- specifically, 72 percent of Democrats, 49 percent of Independents, and 36 percent of Republicans -- said they wanted a presidential candidate to propose “a new health plan that would make a major effort to provide health insurance for all or nearly all of the uninsured,” even if it “would involve a substantial increase in spending,” in contrast with 21 percent in favor of a “new health plan that is more limited and would cover only some groups of the uninsured BUT would involve less new spending” and 17 percent in favor of "[k]eeping things basically as they are." Fourteen percent of Democrats, 23 percent of independents and 29 percent of Republicans favored a candidate who supported a “more limited” option that “involve[d] less new spending”; while 26 percent of Republicans, 8 percent of Democrats, and 19 percent of Independents favored "[k]eeping things basically as they are."
  • A May 29-31 poll conducted by the Democratic polling firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner found that:
  • Fifty-four percent of respondents favored a "proposal that provided every American with health insurance, even if it meant your taxes or health care premiums would increase as a result."
  • Fifty-five percent favored a "single-payer health care plan."
  • Sixty-eight percent favored a plan that -- similar to Clinton's proposal -- would “require businesses to either cover their employees or make a contribution to a pool that help fund health care coverage for the uninsured. It would require all Americans to get health insurance and provide subsidies for Americans who could not afford it. It would also make insurance more affordable by creating new tax credits, expanding Medicaid and taking steps to contain health care costs.”

From the September 18 edition of NBC's Today:

MITCHELL: While polls show health care is a priority for Democratic voters, the issue is a complicated one for the Clinton campaign.

CHUCK TODD (NBC News political director): It is a double-edged sword for Clinton because on one hand it brings up a political defeat, something that isn't one of her proudest moments. On the other hand, it underscores this idea that she has experience.

[...]

MITCHELL: Other opponents were quick to criticize Clinton's failures of the past.

JOHN EDWARDS (Democratic presidential candidate) [video clip]: Senator Clinton believes that you need to give drug companies, insurance companies, and their lobbyists a seat at the table. I believe if you give them a seat at the table, they'll eat all the food.

MITCHELL: But the real problem for Clinton may not be in the Democratic primary. Instead, if she wins the nomination, it will be selling the plan in a general election campaign.

GIULIANI [video clip]: This is essentially the Michael Moore-Hillary Clinton approach.

ROMNEY [video clip]: Version 2.0 is not likely to have any more success than 1.0. HillaryCare continues to be bad medicine.

MITCHELL: Now, Clinton would partly pay for the plan by rolling back much of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, but there will still be critics on both sides saying it does either too much or too little.