Poll Shows Most Americans Favor Suspending Work on Health Care Bill

A new Gallup poll released Friday shows that a majority of Americans, 55 percent, believe lawmakers should suspend work on reforming health care and consider new proposals that have more Republican support. Thirty-nine percent say the Democrats should continue to try to pass the bill currently being negotiated in conference committee.

The poll was conducted on Jan. 20, in the wake of Scott Brown's election to succeed Ted Kennedy as senator from Massachusetts, an unexpected triumph of a Republican in a solidly Democratic state. The poll found that 72 percent of Americans believe Brown's victory was an expression of Americans' many frustrations with Congress, and that President Obama should take it seriously.

Among respondents, 67 percent of Democrats believe congressman from their party should continue to try to pass health care legislation. A higher percentage of Republicans, 87 percent, believe they should suspend work on the bills immediately. Independents tended to lean toward the Republican view, with a majority of those voters saying they would like Democrats to slow down their efforts on reform.

Only 32 percent of all respondents said that health care reform should be lawmakers' top priority; 46 percent said other issues were more important to address first. Nineteen percent said it should not be a priority at all.

The poll has a four-point margin of error.