Muhlenberg College has released their latest survey of Pennsylvanians on public health issues.
Obamacare
First off the bat they found that a slim plurality favor President Obama’s health care reform. By a 43/37 margin, residents have a favorable opinion of the law and in a 45/43 split approve of how the President has handled the issue of healthcare.
Abortion/Planned Parenthood
Pennsylvanians were then asked about their opinions on abortion.
52% identified as pro-choice while 41% said they were pro-life.
Furthermore, Planned Parenthood has a 49% favorable rating against just 15% who have an unfavorable view. A solid majority, 56%, also think Planned Parenthood should receive federal funds.
Marijuana
Respondents were much more divided on the question of legalizing marijuana.
By a razor thin 39/38 margin, they favor the complete legalization of the drug. Additionally, while Pennsylvanians are not enthusiastic about its health benefits, they believe it should be regulated the same as alcohol.
The Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion surveyed 403 Pennsylvanians from February 27th to March 7th. The margin of error is +/- 6%.
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4 Responses
I am scepticsl,of these results,of course they reflect the attitudes that Mulhlenberg has been preaching for fifty years. Planned Parenthood is a racists , immoral organization. Obama cares destruction of our health system is just beginning to be felt and only the uninformed would disagree. As for marijuana, legalization is a slippery slope that will leadto many unforeseen circumstances.
I agree Marijuana should be regulated like alcohol. Most states found that after legalization the biggest challenge is establishing a logistical infrastructure. Fortunately for the Commonwealth of PA we already have a distribution system complete with over 600 outlets staffed by workers trained in handling controlled substances. Welcome to the Pennsylvania Liquor and CANABIS Board. We don’t even have to change the stationary
The sample is pretty small, and the 6% margin of error is indeed pretty big (That means that for a 30% finding, as an example, there is a 95% probability that the true number is between 24% and 36%), but I am glad to see that Muhlenberg is including cell phone users in its sample, something I have yet to see in any F&M poll even though when asked recently Terry Madonna claimed otherwise. They may end up with some cell phone users in their sample, but that is not the same as buying a cell phone sample. If they were doing the latter they would say so in their methodology description. Madonna knows better, and he knows his polls are worthless.
Given a MOE of 6%, most of these results are not at all definitive concerning favorability toward any of these issues; read the Methodological Statement on p.2 of the report! Far more interesting (and definitive) are the findings you omitted concerning overwhelming disapproval toward Congress’s handling of health care, and the rejection of anti-vaccination views by the respondents.