The New York Times/CBS News Poll
June 10-15, 2005
15. If you had to say, which of these domestic issues do you think is MOST important right now — 1) the budget deficit, 2) health care, 3) education, 4) social security, OR 5) jobs? (Rotate answer categories)
14% Deficit
28% Health care
22% Education
14% Social Security
20% Jobs
02% DK/NA
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/19/national/19poll.html (Click on “Complete Results: The New York Times/CBS News Poll”)
Comment: Right now, all of these are very important domestic issues. The fact that health care ranked # 1 as the most important issue doesn’t mean that the poll respondents are not very concerned about the other issues as well. But with all of the hype about Social Security and the deficit, it is interesting to see that twice as many selected health care as being even more important than either of these two issues.
The point is that Americans are truly very concerned about our health care system. But we will not see significant change until we translate our concerns into political activism.