Nearly half of Californians, 48 percent, have a generally favorable opinion of federal health care reform, according to a new survey by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California.
The institute's Mark Baldasarre, who's also the survey director, spoke to KPBS Morning Edition's Deb Welsh about the findings.
Baldasarre: The last time this was asked in a national poll we found more people had an unfavorable than a favorable view by 46 to 38 margin. So, clearly Californians have a more favorable view than people elsewhere in the nation. A trend that we saw that was similar to the national polls is that with the enrollment period ending we're not yet seeing any change in how people are feeling about the "Affordable Care Act," generally speaking. The poll results we see today are very similar to recent poll results that we have.
Welsh: And those who didn't have health insurance, as I understand it, were more likely to feel unfavorable about it?
Baldasarre: Yes. And that's a trend we've seen in our past polls. Fifty-two percent in the most recent one of those without health insurance said they were unfavorable compared to 42 percent that do have health insurance.
Welsh: That kind of makes me think of the analogy "You're not going to offer me a piece of cake, so I don't want any."
Baldasarre: Well, that could be. You know the ACA has so many different elements and it's so complex for so many people. And I think for some people, if you don't have health insurance and you want it, that's a big hurdle.
The PPIC Statewide Survey was conducted with funding from the James Irvine Foundation.
Findings are based on a telephone survey of 1,702 California adult residents interviewed on landlines and cell phones from May 8-15, 2014. Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish, according to respondents' preferences.
