Fox News Poll: Support for Health Care Bill Increases, More Still Oppose

Even as few Americans think their family would be better off under the health care reforms being considered, support for the bill has increased since December.  Still, a slim majority opposes the reforms.

A Fox News poll released Friday finds 39 percent of Americans favor the health care bill, the highest level of support to date in the poll, and up from 34 percent in December.  A 51-percent majority opposes the legislation, down from 57 percent.

Despite the increase in support for the bill, few Americans -- 14 percent -- think their family would be better off under the health care reforms.  This compares to 16 percent who thought so in November and a high of 22 percent in September.

Compared to the number who think they would be better off, nearly three times as many -- 38 percent -- think their family would be worse off under the reforms.  And another 41 percent think the health care plan would "not make much of a difference" to their family.

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The national telephone poll was conducted for Fox News by Opinion Dynamics Corp. among 900 registered voters from January 12 to January 13.  For the total sample, the poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

A majority of Democrats favor the health care reform legislation, while half of independents and almost all Republicans oppose it.

For Democrats, the 67 percent favoring the reforms today is up from 63 percent in December and the highest level of support yet.  Among Republicans, 88 percent oppose the legislation.

By 37 percent to 50 percent, independents oppose the health care reforms.

Capitol Hill Negotiations Should Be Televised

The American people back the request of C-SPAN to make the health care negotiations between the House and Senate open to the public.  An overwhelming 86 percent think the reconciliation process should be "held in public sessions that are televised."  Some 11 percent think the negotiations should be held in private sessions behind closed doors.

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