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Rasmussen: Many Believe Health Care Reform Should Be Delayed Until Economy Improves

9:15 AM, Mar 3, 2009 • By GARY ANDRES
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Rasmussen has released a poll that finds a plurality of voters believe health care reform should be delayed until the economy improves:

President Obama told the nation last week that health care reform is one of the top three priorities of his administration, but 49% of U.S. voters say the president should wait until the economy improves before moving forward on the health care front.

The numbers break predictably on partisan lines -- 72 percent of Republicans believe reform should be delayed until the economy improves, but only 24 percent of Democrats share that view. Interestingly, 57 percent of independents (or those who claim "other" as their party affiliation) also want the economy to improve before tackling reform.

President Obama often uses the current economic morass as a justification to reform health care. He may want to rethink that argument. It looks like economic anxiety is also an obstacle to a major health overhaul.

Read the full Rasmussen poll here.

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