Dem pollster predicts GOP Medicare proposal will 'sink' Republicans

In an article in The Hill, reporter Alex Bolton wrote, "The Republican budget the House passed on Friday holds great promise for Democrats because of voters' strong opposition to its Medicare reforms, according to a new poll for liberal organizations.

The poll, conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner for the Campaign for America's Future (CAF) and Democracy Corps, found that the GOP budget only garnered 48 percent support when it was described simply as a 10-year plan to cut spending $6.2 trillion "below the president's budget." When its effects on Medicare are more critically explained, however, support falls to 36 percent.

"The budget opens up a fundamental debate about values that could end up defining Republicans in the public mind and allowing Democrats to draw sharp differences and regain their standing on the economy and spending priorities and advocacy for the middle class," Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg and Robert Borosage of CAF said in a memo to supporters.

In order to rein in costs, the GOP budget converts Medicare to a type of voucher system for people currently under 55. Instead of government-run Medicare, seniors would buy private insurance and the government would foot some of the bill.

In the poll, the proposal is described as making "major cuts of almost $800 billion to Medicaid and Medicare for seniors over the next 10 years."

"Starting in 2022," the poll question continues, "new retirees will no longer get health coverage through Medicare, but instead will get a voucher that will partially pay for insurance they purchase from private health insurance companies."

After pollsters tell respondents they'll have to pay for healthcare coverage under the GOP plan — as the Congressional Budget Office has confirmed — 66 percent say they have "serious doubts" about the proposal."