LANSING – The federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was viewed by 600 likely voters in statistically equal proportions of “mostly negative” or “neutral,” and more than three-quarters of respondents said they were either “very concerned” or “somewhat concerned” about the discrepancy between what the state is providing for road funding and what it actually needs, a poll by Public Sector Consultants and Denno Research released Tuesday showed.
Specifically, the question on the ACA stated: “Given all that you have heard and experienced as a result of the Affordable Care Act – also known as Obamacare – would you say that the changes to the health care system have been mostly positive, mostly negative, or neutral for your family?”
A mere 17.2 percent, or 103 respondents, said the results had been mostly positive (1.2 percent were unsure). Roughly 42.3 percent responded “mostly negative,” and 39.3 percent responded “neutral.”
And there were clear political and racial differences on the issue, a statement by PSC said: Only 1 percent of Republicans were “mostly positive,” compared to 38 percent of Democrats. Forty-six percent of independents were “mostly negative,” and 41 percent of African-Americans were “mostly positive” to 14 percent of whites.
The respondents were pretty evenly split among political parties: 35 percent (210 people) identified as a Democrat, 30.3 percent (182) as Independent, and 30.5 percent (183) as Republican. About 10.7 percent of the respondents considered themselves African American, 81.7 percent as white, and 0.5 percent as Hispanic/Latino. And 55 percent of the respondents were female, compared to 45 percent who were male.
On age, a slim majority (31 percent) of respondents were between 50 and 64 years old; then 28.5 percent between 35 and 49 years old and 26.3 percent 65 or older. Only 11 percent were between 18 and 34 years old, the poll showed.
The question on roads was prepped with the background that Governor Rick Snyder proposed increasing transportation taxes by up to $1.5 billion per year and that while the Legislature debated a variety of solutions, it was unable to reach an agreement.
“Therefore, despite estimates that the state needs as much as $1.5 billion more each year to adequately maintain our transportation system, spending remains virtually unchanged,” the question stated.
With that in mind, 47.7 percent (286) respondents said they were “very concerned” about the discrepancy in road funding and 29.7 percent (178) were “somewhat concerned.” A combined 7.5 percent said they were either not concerned (4.8 percent, 29 individuals) or very unconcerned (2.7 percent, 16 individuals).
The poll also asked about education, stating that Michigan requires K-12 schools to offer 175 days of instruction but that nationally, school districts offer an average of 180 days of instruction and the “highest-achieving nations” offer between 175 days and 210 days of instruction. With that in mind, only a combined 43.8 percent said the Michigan requires too few (42.3 percent) or too many (1.5 percent) days of instruction – 50 percent said it was “just about the right number.”
The poll taken between July 9 and July 11 has an overall margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
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