Polls Conflict on Support for 'Public Option'

There have been some differences in poll results on support for the "public option" as part of health care reform, and now a CNN/Opinion Research poll conducted Oct. 16-18 weighs in on the side of strong support for the proposal.

Sixty-one percent favor a public insurance option to compete with private insurers while 38 percent oppose it and 1 percent are undecided, according to CNN. In late August, when support for a health care overhaul fell to a low, 55 percent supported it, 41 percent opposed it and 4 percent were undecided.

A Gallup poll released earlier Wednesday described Americans as "about evenly split" on the issue with 50 percent favoring it and 46 percent opposed, a spread just outside the margin of error. A Washington Post/ABC News poll on Tuesday said, like the CNN one does now, that support for the public option had rebounded since August with 57 percent now backing it while 40 percent were opposed.

All three polls used similar language in their questions.

As far as the overall health reform plan, 49 percent favor it and an equal number oppose it with 2 percent undecided, down from a 51 percent to 46 percent level of support in mid-September. Thirty-four percent oppose it strongly, while 24 percent favor it strongly. Twenty-five percent voice moderate support and 15 percent express moderate opposition.

Americans trust President Obama more than congressional Republicans to handle major changes in health care by 50 percent to 34 percent with 15 percent saying they either trust both or neither.