Talk Elections

The Romney-Ryan proposal to reshape Medicare is deeply unpopular in the key swing states of Florida, Ohio and Wisconsin, according to new polls that found that more likely voters in each state trust President Barack Obama to handle Medicare.

The Medicare debate was catapulted to the forefront of the presidential campaign this month when Mitt Romney announced that his running mate would be Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., who is perhaps best known for proposing a budget plan — supported by Romney — to overhaul Medicare to rein in its costs.

Medicare ranks as the third most crucial issue to likely voters in Florida, Ohio and Wisconsin — behind the economy and health care, according to new Quinnipiac University/New York Times/CBS News polls of the three swing states.

Roughly 6 in 10 likely voters in each state want Medicare to continue providing health insurance to senior citizens the way it does today; fewer than a third of those polled said Medicare should be changed to a system in which the government gives senior citizens fixed amounts of money to buy health insurance or Medicare insurance, as Romney and Ryan have proposed.

About 60 percent of independent voters in the three states support keeping Medicare as it is today, as do at least 8 in 10 Democrats. Republicans are closely divided on the issue in Florida and Ohio, but in Wisconsin, Ryan's home state, a majority of Republicans support changing it along the lines he has proposed.

The telephone polls, conducted Aug. 15 through Tuesday, have a 3-percentage-point margin of error.

http://www.statesman.com/news/nation/polls-find-medicare-key-issue-in-3-swing-2440330.html

http://www.quinnipiac.edu/institutes-and-centers/polling-institute

@ForecasterEnten: Note that Q-pac is getting some of the more Dem leaning results in OH and FL. Better to use an aggregate than any 1 poll in reporting.