06-30-2001

POLLING: Poll Track For June 30, 2001

Health Care Prescription Drug Coverage


Prescription drug coverage for seniors remains a hot-button issue for many
Americans, a CBS News-New York Times poll finds. Seventy-one percent of
those surveyed said that reducing the cost of prescription drugs for the
elderly matters "a lot" to them personally. Only 11 percent said
that the issue mattered little or not at all. Asked whether Medicare
should cover the cost of prescription drugs, even if it meant raising
premiums, 74 percent favored the idea, and 19 percent opposed it.


Should Medicare offer prescription drug benefits to all recipients or just
low-income recipients?


All			      62%


Only low-income 	      35


No one			       1


Don't know, no response        2


(6/18/01; 1,050 adults; margin of error plus or minus 3%)


Patients' Rights


Measures that would give patients more rights to challenge health coverage
decisions are also favored, according to the CBS-Times poll. When the
questions factored in increased costs, however, support dropped. Ninety
percent of adults said they favored a law that would require health
insurers to provide more information to members, make it easier to consult
specialists, and allow denials of coverage to be appealed to an
independent reviewer. Asked whether they would still support such a law if
their own costs increased, 68 percent of the respondents said yes, and 18
percent said no. (6/18/01; 1,050 adults; plus or minus 3%)


Party Politics


Women and W.


President Bush's job-approval numbers have been hovering in the mid-50s,
but there is a gender gap, according to a Gallup Poll. Sixty-one percent
of men said they approve of the job Bush is doing as President, but only
49 percent of women agree. There's no gap between those who said they
disapprove: 31 percent of men and 34 percent of women do not approve of
the job Bush is doing. The gap is a result of the large proportion of
women (17 percent) who said they had no opinion. (6/17/01; 1,004 adults;
margin of error plus or minus 5%)


Men   Women


Approve 	 61%	49%


Disapprove	 31	34


No opinion	  8	17


A GOP Slide?


Public opinion of the Republican and Democratic parties was on fairly
equal footing in March, but a new survey indicates that positive opinion
of the GOP has declined. In this month's CBS News-New York Times survey,
the Republican Party polled at 46 percent favorable-47 percent
unfavorable. In March, the numbers were 54 percent favorable-39 percent
unfavorable.


Opinion about the Democrats, on the other hand, has changed little since
March. The latest numbers are 56 percent favorable-36 percent unfavorable;
three months ago, the Dems polled at 55 percent favorable-38 unfavorable.
(6/18/01; 1,050 adults; plus or minus 3%)


ENERGY


Dancing in the Dark


Summer's here, and the time is right for federal intervention in
California's energy crisis, according to a majority of respondents to a
CBS News-New York Times poll. Fifty-four percent of Americans said the
feds should help out instead of writing it off as a "state
problem." Not surprisingly, 65 percent of the Westerners who were
surveyed favored assistance from Washington, and respondents from the
Northeast (who faced their own energy crunch last winter) also supported
federal intervention, 55 percent to 38 percent. Respondents in the Midwest
and South were more evenly divided. (6/17/01; 889 adults; plus or minus
3%)


California Dreamin'


Many Americans apparently believe that the nation is not really facing an
energy crisis-we're just being told that there is one. In a split sample
polled by CBS and The Times, 36 percent of respondents said that the
nation's energy crisis is real, and 55 percent thought they were just
being told that there are shortages. When a different version of the
question was posed to the other half of the sample, only 28 percent said
that the shortages are real, and 64 percent said they think "we are
just being told there are shortages so oil and gas companies can charge
high prices." (6/18/01; 1,050 adults; plus or minus 3%)


Here Comes the Sun


More than half of Americans say that it's time to focus on renewable
energy sources instead of relying oil and coal, according to a poll for
the League of Conservation Voters Education Fund. Fifty-three percent said
that wind, solar, and other technologies should be phased in to meet the
nation's energy needs. But 34 percent said that the country is "years
away" from implementing alternative sources.


A plurality (27 percent) said that solar power will do the most to solve
future energy problems. The poll was conducted by the Democratic firm
Greenberg-Quinlan Research, and the Tarrance Group, a GOP firm. (5/23/01;
1,000 adults; plus or minus 3%)


Deborah L. Acomb

National Journal