BY CIVITAS
RALEIGH, N.C. – With President Barack Obama set to address Congress Wednesday evening to plead his case for overhauling the health insurance and health care industry, a new Civitas Flash Poll released today finds voters deeply divided on their support for the plan.

According to the poll of 662 registered voters, nearly an identical number support the proposal as oppose it.  Of those surveyed, 47.6 percent said they somewhat or strongly supported the health care reform plan presented by President Obama and Congressional Democrats, 47 percent of voters said they were opposed to the plan and 5.4 percent said they were unsure.

“The health care proposal by the President and Congress has deeply divided the nation,” said Francis De Luca, executive director of the Civitas Institute.  “Feelings on the plan are quite intense, with very few people in the middle.  Basically, you either support the plan or you abhor it.”

A reflection of the deep divisions is that roughly three-fourths of voters said they either strongly supported (35.4%) or strongly opposed (40.6%) the plan.

“Candidate Obama pledged to be a uniting force for our country.  However, the actions and proposals by President Obama and the Democratic majority in Congress are driving the nation apart,” added De Luca.

Additionally, only 20.5 percent of voters think the cost of health care will go down and 27.3 percent of voters think the quality of their health care will get better if the President’s plan passes.

“Regardless of their support of the President’s proposals, very few think it will actually make things better.  It’s apparent much of the President’s support on the plan is not from people who think it will improve health care, but from their personal support of him,” concluded De Luca.

The Civitas Flash Poll study of 665 registered voters was conducted September 2-3 by Insider Advantage of Atlanta, Georgia.  It has a margin of error of +/- 3.9 percent.  Other factors such as weighting may introduce additional error.