Wow, this is cause for cautious optimism: Buried in a new Bloomberg poll is evidence that solid majorities dismiss all the leading right wing health care talking points as “scare tactics.” Not kidding! It’s true. The poll tested a range of attacks and asked whether they were “legitimate” or a “disortion” and a “scare tactic.”
* Sixty-three percent said the claim that “death panels of government officials would decide how much medical care ailing individuals will receive” is a scare tactic, versus 30% who said it’s legit.
* Fifty-nine percent said the claim that “health care would be rationed” is a scare tactic, versus 35% who said it’s legit.
* Fifty-two percent said the claim that “health care would become socialized medicine” is a scare tactic, versus 43% who said it’s legit.
* Sixty-one percent said the claim that “government money would be used to pay for abortions” is a scare tactic, versus 33% who said it’s legit.
* Fifty-eight percent said the claim that “government money would pay for health care for illegal immigrants” is a scare tactic, versus 37% who said it’s legit.
How to square these numbers with other polls showing a far more credulous public? My bet is that by explicitly offering people the choice of seeing an assertion as a “scare tactic,” it encourages far more skepticism than polls that merely ask whether people agree with the claims.
http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/health-care/poll-big-majorities-dismiss-leading-right-wing-health-care-attacks-as-scare-tactics/http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=a1aj4z4GhbH8