Published: February 07, 2011
Most of the Major Pieces of Legislation Signed by Obama Are Popular with Americans who Are Familiar with Them
NEW YORK, Feb. 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The results of a new Harris Poll are something of a paradox. When asked separately about seven of the most important bills that were passed by the last Congress, including those passed in the very productive lame duck session in December, majorities of those who are familiar with them rate each of them "good" rather than "bad". The three most popular bills, rated "good" by the most people who are familiar with them, are the 9/11 First Responders bill (88%), the bill to extend the Bush-era tax cuts and unemployment benefits (73%), and the repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law (68%).
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However, when the public is shown the list of the seven bills and asked about them "all together", a substantial 61% to 39% majority of all adults rates them negatively. In an earlier question, before any of the specific bills were mentioned, a 46% to 33% plurality of all adults rated "the new laws passed over the last two years" negatively, with 21% not sure.
These are some of the results of The Harris Poll of 2,566 adults surveyed online between January 17 and 24, 2011 by Harris Interactive.
Some of the other interesting results of this poll are:
-- Familiarity with the 7 bills in the list varies greatly. Fully 80% of
all adults are very or somewhat familiar with the repeal of the "Don't
Ask, Don't Tell" law. 77% are familiar with the Health Care Reform bill.
72% are familiar with the bill to extend the Bush-era tax cuts and
unemployment benefits. 68% are familiar with stimulus package of
increased government spending and tax cuts. 56% are familiar with the
9/11 First Responders health care bill. But only 37% are familiar with
the ratification of the Start 2 Nuclear Arms Control bill, and only 39%
are familiar with the Financial Regulation bill (the Dodd Frank Bill);
-- Approval of the bills by those who are very or somewhat familiar with
them also varies greatly, with between 88% and 51% rating them "good"
rather than "bad". The most popular bills are the 9/11 First Responders
bill (88% good) and the bill to extend the Bush-era tax cuts and
unemployment benefits (73%). Also very popular are the repeal of the
"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law (68%), the ratification of Start 2 (67%),
and the Financial Regulation bill (63%). The people familiar with the
other two bills - the stimulus package and the Health Care Reform bill
are split almost equally (51% to 49% for both) between those who think
them good or bad;
-- Unsurprisingly there is a huge partisan split in attitudes to these
pieces of legislation, with Republicans tending to be much more negative
and Democrats much more positive about the legislation. However, large
majorities of Republicans think that two of these pieces of legislation
are "good" - the 9/11 First Responders bill (82%) and the extension of
the Bush-era tax-cuts and unemployment benefits (89%). Large majorities
of Republicans think that each of the other five pieces of legislation
are "bad".
So What?
These findings suggest several conclusions about public opinion and how it is formed and influenced. One conclusion is that the big picture--how people feel overall--is not the sum of all the small pictures, or how people feel about the details. It is also clear that emotions tend to trump detailed analysis; rhetoric often trumps information; and that partisanship often trumps rational analysis. All of this confirms that Democracy is messy, and the truth of Churchill's famous remark that Democracy is the worst form of government - except for all of the others.
TABLE 1
RATING RECENT BILLS
"A number of new laws were passed by the Congress and signed into law
by the President in the last two years, including several that were
passed in December. Overall, how would you rate the legislation
that was passed?"
Base: All adults
Total Political ID
Rep. Dem. Ind.
% % % %
Positive (NET) 33 8 59 29
Excellent 8 3 17 5
Pretty good 25 6 42 24
Negative (NET) 46 75 20 52
Only fair 23 29 16 27
Poor 23 46 5 26
Not at all
sure 21 17 21 19
Generation
Echo Gen X Baby Matures
Boomers (35-46) Boomers (66+)
(18-34) (47-65)
% % % %
Positive (NET) 37 27 33 34
Excellent 13 4 6 12
Pretty good 24 23 28 22
Negative (NET) 35 48 50 56
Only fair 19 28 25 23
Poor 16 21 25 32
Not at all
sure 28 25 17 10
Note: Percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding.
TABLE 2
FAMILIAR WITH RECENT BILLS
"How familiar are you with each of the following bills that have
been passed by the Congress and signed into law by the President in
the last two years?"
Base: All adults
Not Not at
Familiar Very Somewhat familiar Not very all
(NET) familiar familiar (NET) familiar familiar
% % % % % %
The repeal of the
Don't Ask, Don't
Tell law that will
allow gays and
lesbians to serve
openly in the
military 80 37 44 20 10 10
The Health Care
Reform bill 77 33 44 23 14 9
The bill to extend
Bush-era tax cuts
and unemployment
benefits 72 31 41 28 15 14
The Stimulus Package
of increased
government spending
and tax cuts 68 26 42 32 19 13
The 9/11 First
Responders health
care bill 56 22 35 44 22 21
The Financial
Regulation bill 39 14 25 61 31 30
The ratification of
the Start 2 Nuclear
Arms Control treaty 37 15 21 63 27 37
Note: Percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding.
TABLE 3
RATING FAMILIAR BILLS
"Overall do you think it is good or bad that each of these bills was
passed?"
Base: American adults who are familiar with each bill
Good Bad
% %
The 9/11 First Responders health care
bill 88 12
The bill to extend Bush-era tax cuts
and unemployment benefits 73 27
The repeal of the Don't Ask, Don't
Tell law that will allow gays and
lesbians to serve openly in the
military 68 32
The ratification of the Start 2
Nuclear Arms Control treaty 67 33
The Financial Regulation bill 63 37
The Stimulus Package of increased
government spending and tax cuts 51 49
The Health Care Reform bill 51 49
Note: Percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding.
TABLE 4
RATING FAMILIAR BILLS
"Overall do you think it is good or bad that each of these
bills was passed?"
Summary of those saying "good"
Base: American adults who are familiar with each bill
Total Political ID
Rep. Dem. Ind.
% % % %
The 9/11 First Responders
health care bill 88 82 93 87
The bill to extend Bush-era
tax cuts and unemployment
benefits 73 89 64 70
The repeal of the Don't Ask,
Don't Tell law that will
allow gays and lesbians to
serve openly in the
military 68 37 90 67
The ratification of the
Start 2 Nuclear Arms
Control treaty 67 29 93 66
The Financial Regulation
bill 63 31 91 54
The Stimulus Package of
increased government
spending and tax cuts 51 20 82 42
The Health Care Reform bill 51 11 86 45
Generation
Echo Gen X Baby Matures
Boomers (35-46) Boomers (66+)
(18-34) (47-65)
% % % %
The 9/11 First Responders
health care bill 88 92 87 86
The bill to extend Bush-era
tax cuts and unemployment
benefits 71 73 76 71
The repeal of the Don't Ask,
Don't Tell law that will
allow gays and lesbians to
serve openly in the
military 78 67 62 63
The ratification of the
Start 2 Nuclear Arms
Control treaty 79 59 63 62
The Financial Regulation
bill 73 48 61 63
The Stimulus Package of
increased government
spending and tax cuts 54 48 52 44
The Health Care Reform bill 56 47 53 43
Note: Percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding.
TABLE 5
RATING BILLS ALL TOGETHER
"Viewing these bills listed below all together, how would you rate
them?"
------------------------------------------------------------------
--The repeal of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell law that will allow gays
and lesbians to serve openly in the military
-- The Health Care Reform bill
-- The bill to extend Bush-era tax cuts and unemployment benefits
-- The Stimulus Package of increased government spending and tax cuts
-- The 9/11 First Responders health care bill
-- The Financial Regulation bill
-- The ratification of the Start 2 Nuclear Arms Control treaty
Base: All adults
Total Political ID
Rep. Dem. Ind.
% % % %
Positive (NET) 39 13 64 37
Excellent 7 2 13 4
Pretty good 32 10 50 33
Negative (NET) 61 87 36 63
Only fair 44 54 33 44
Poor 17 33 4 19
Generation
Echo Gen X Baby Matures
Boomers (35-46) Boomers (66+)
(18-34) (47-65)
% % % %
Positive (NET) 43 35 39 36
Excellent 12 3 4 7
Pretty good 32 32 34 29
Negative (NET) 57 65 61 64
Only fair 45 45 42 46
Poor 12 19 20 18
Note: Percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding.
Methodology
This Harris Poll was conducted online within the United States between January 17 to 24, 2011 among 2,566 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents' propensity to be online.
All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids the words "margin of error" as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal.
Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in Harris Interactive surveys. The data have been weighted to reflect the composition of the adult population. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to participate in the Harris Interactive panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.
These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.
The results of this Harris Poll may not be used in advertising, marketing or promotion without the prior written permission of Harris Interactive.
J39369
Q880, 885, 890, 895
The Harris Poll(R) #15, February 7, 2011
By Humphrey Taylor, Chairman, The Harris Poll
About Harris Interactive
Harris Interactive is one of the world's leading custom market research firms, leveraging research, technology, and business acumen to transform relevant insight into actionable foresight. Known widely for the Harris Poll and for pioneering innovative research methodologies, Harris offers expertise in a wide range of industries including healthcare, technology, public affairs, energy, telecommunications, financial services, insurance, media, retail, restaurant, and consumer package goods. Serving clients in over 215 countries and territories through our North American, European, and Asian offices and a network of independent market research firms, Harris specializes in delivering research solutions that help us - and our clients - stay ahead of what's next. For more information, please visit www.harrisinteractive.com.
Press Contact:
Corporate Communications
Harris Interactive
212-539-9600
press@harrisinteractive.net
SOURCE Harris Interactive
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