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Who Supports Health Reform?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 January 2010

David W. Brady  and
Daniel P. Kessler
David W. Brady
Affiliation:
Stanford University
Daniel P. Kessler
Affiliation:
Stanford University
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Abstract

In this article, we report results from a new study that surveyed a large, national sample of American adults about their willingness to pay for health reform. As in previous work, we find that self-identified Republicans, older Americans, and high-income Americans are less supportive of reform. However, these basic findings mask three important features of public opinion. First, income has a substantial effect on support for reform, even holding political affiliation constant. Indeed, income is the most important determinant of support for reform. Second, the negative effects of income on support for reform begin early in the income distribution, at annual family income levels of $25,000 to $50,000. Third, although older Americans have a less favorable view of reform than the young, much of their opposition is due to dislike of large policy changes than to reform per se.

Type
Spotlight
Information
PS: Political Science & Politics , Volume 43 , Issue 1 , January 2010 , pp. 1 - 6
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2010

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References

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