A poll conducted by USA Today/Gallup found, “52% agree with Bush that most benefits should go to children in families earning less than 200% of the federal poverty level. ”
The USA Today/Gallup Poll also found that a slight majority (55%) were very or somewhat concerned that expanding SCHIP gave incentive for people to drop their private health insurance coverage.
But a competing poll conducted by CBS News indicated more support for the SCHIP expansion bill vetoed by President Bush. Eighty-one percent of those polled said they would favor expanding SCHIP, and 15% opposed. The poll also found that a significant majority was in favor of raising taxes to fund the program — 74% said they would be willing to pay more taxes, opposed to 17% who said they would not.
The CBS Poll questioned 1,282 Americans — 406 were registered Republicans, 426 registered Democrats, and 450 identified themselves as Independent.
These two polls asked very different questions. But the USA Today/Gallup Poll one seemed to say that Americans are somewhat wary of expanding SCHIP, while the CBS News poll indicated much larger support.