5 in 10 Americans consider health reform bill to be a 'good thing'

Washington, Mar. 24 (ANI): Almost five out of 10 Americans believe that President Barack Obama's health care reform bill is a "good thing," a new poll has revealed.

According to a Gallup poll, 49 percent of the 1,005 adults polled nationwide said that health reform was a "good thing" against 40 percent who said it was bad.

The poll also found that fifty percent of those surveyed were either "enthusiastic" or "pleased" by the bill's passage, while 23 percent were "disappointed." Nineteen percent said they were "angry."

"Passage of health care reform was a clear political victory for President Obama and his allies in Congress," Politico quoted Gallup's Lydia Saad, as saying in her analysis of the survey.

Democrats favored the bill by wide margins, while Republicans expressed displeasure.

Forty-one percent of the self-identified Republicans polled said they were "angry" that the bill passed.

Independents, meanwhile, were split almost evenly. Forty-six percent said the bill was a "good thing," compared to 45 percent who believed it was bad.

The margin of error was plus or minus 4 percentage points.

"While it also pleases most of his Democratic base nationwide, it is met with greater ambivalence among independents and with considerable antipathy among Republicans," Saad wrote.

"Whether these groups' views on the issue harden, or soften, in the coming months could be crucial to how health care reform factors into this year's midterm elections," she added. (ANI)