Also 83% believe healthcare coverage is a fundamental right. Vosem and Haley/Ryan in shambles.
I don't think most people interpret this question as asking 'should the government provide healthcare for everyone'. (OTOH, polls do show narrow majorities supporting that -- but on the other hand, with frequent swings in both directions and elections fought on the question suggesting quite large majorities actually oppose it when the chips are down.) To give an analogy, if anything a larger majority of Americans would agree that food is a fundamental right, but virtually nobody supports nationalization of the grocery system. (A smaller number would say education is a fundamental right -- but Republicans win running against public schools all the time.)
Right. I
don't believe that healthcare or food are fundamental rights (and think most Americans could be somewhat easily convinced of this if it were actually a major topic of public discussion, if they aren't already of this view*), but the question is also not very important in current politics because believing healthcare is a right is perfectly reconcilable with opposing government actually running healthcare.
*And by this, I mean that I think that many people hear the question "Is healthcare coverage a fundamental right?" and you get a higher answer % for it being a right than the actual definition of a right because the question phrasing ignores what this would actually mean in practice. Theoretically, a
right to healthcare would include some form of doctors being mandated to provide healthcare, or at the very least an obligation on the part of others to provide said healthcare, which I cannot imagine being even remotely popular.
