One of the defining characteristics of our age is emotional partisanship, when Americans’ political and ideological self-identities are so emotionally powerful that they become the lens through which Americans view many nonpolitical aspects of their lives. …
Several articles analyzing public opinion on healthcare published by my Gallup colleagues in recent weeks have shown the significant power of political identity in Americans’ assessments of both national healthcare and in evaluations of their own healthcare situation.
We would expect to see highly partisan reactions when we ask Americans for their opinions of overtly political aspects of healthcare — and we do. … The most fascinating findings, however, focus on the degree to which we also see big differences by partisanship in attitudes toward personal healthcare. CONT.
Frank Newport, Gallup