A Penn & Schoen and Berland survey for AARP survey finds that, for all the noise about health care, most citizens have no idea what the debate is about:
Very few (only 37%) are able to correctly define the term “public option,” even when given only 3 options to choose from. (That’s nearly the equivalent probability that one would expect if everyone were just guessing.)
And when asked to categorize supporters and opponents, Americans tend to expect a landscape similar to 1993 – when pharmaceutical and health insurance companies and lobbyists united in opposition to proposed reforms – rather than grasp the reality of 2009’s process, which has garnered some support from such parties.
My own impression -- and read Jonathan Martin and Russ Smith, among others for more along these lines -- is that this may not matter. The health care debate is no longer about health care: It's about partisan politics, change and fear of change, technology, and the role of government. It may be possible to turn the debate in the Senate back toward policy; I don't see how the public debate becomes wonkier.
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