CNN: US National Health Care Reform: Obama wins with speech-watchers, poll says

Obama speaking to joined session US Congress (photo CNN)

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Obama wins with speech-watchers, poll says

Two out of three Americans who watched President Obama's health care reform speech Wednesday night favor his health care plans, a 14-point gain among speech-watchers, according to a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. national poll.Sixty-seven percent of people questioned in the survey said they support the health care reform proposals Obama outlined in his address to a joint session of Congress. Twenty-nine percent opposed the proposals. Those figures are almost identical to a poll conducted immediately after Bill Clinton's health care speech before Congress in September 1993. About one in seven people who watched the speech changed their minds on Obama's health care plan. "Going into the speech, a bare majority of his audience -- 53 percent -- favored his proposals. Immediately after the speech, that figure rose to 67 percent," said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "But the real question is whether those conversions will last. Bill Clinton got similar numbers after his 1993 address to Congress, but five months later a majority of the country no longer supported his plan."

More than seven in 10 said that Obama clearly stated his goals, with one in four saying he didn't express his goals clearly. Three out of four said it's very or somewhat likely that the president will pass most of his proposals on health care reform through Congress, with one in four saying it's unlikely.Seven in 10 said Obama's policies will move the country in the right direction, up 10 points from before the speech.