This post is the second part of our analysis of voters’ support for Clinton and Obama health care plans. It reviews voters’ support for mandatory healthcare, a key difference between Clinton’s and Obama’s health care plans.

Obama’s plan will not provide healthcare to approximately 15 million US residents, by all estimates. However, voters seem to see the glass half full rather than half empty here and a 2/3 majority supports the Obama plan in that regard.

Small business employees are much less likely to receive health insurance through their employers. Voters support requiring small businesses to provide health insurance with a 2 to 1 majority.

Mandatory health care seems to receive broad support across voters. A strong majority both recognizes it as a key to achieving universal healthcare and an action item for the next President.

The analysis above reviews over 60,000 expressed opinion on healthcare on over 200 questions that cover the whole gamut of health care proposals for the 2008 primaries and presidential elections. The most important and selective questions on Select2008 on universal health care are the following ones:

- Propose a universal healthcare plan that covers at least 32 million out of the 47 million uninsured U.S. residents – 64% agree and 28% disagree out of 2,000+ votes/ 500+ votes this week

- Require small businesses to provide healthcare insurance to their employees – 60% agree and 31% disagree out of 8,300+ votes/ 1,300+ votes this week

- Mandatory health insurance is the key to achieving universal healthcare – 55% agree and 35% disagree out of 7,800 votes/ 1,700+ votes this week

- Make healthcare insurance mandatory for all U.S. residents – 62% agree and 31% disagree out of 9,000+ votes/ 1,800+ votes this week

This post is the first part of our analysis of <a href=”http://blog.select2008.com/2008/02/29/select2008com%e2%80%99s-exclusive-look-at-voter%e2%80%99s-support-for-clinton%e2%80%99s-vs-obama%e2%80%99s-health-care-plans-ahead-of-texas-and-ohio-votes/”> voters' support for Clinton and Obama healthcare plans</a>. It reviews voters' support for universal health care as the <a href=http://select2008.com/vote_and_compare_for/obama_vs_clinton>Clinton vs. Obama face off</a> heats up in Ohio and Texas, according to the latest polls.

Only a slight majority of voters supports universal health care, which hints at a spirited debate as we move into the general election phase. Obama’s plan seems to provide a solid baseline to move towards universal health care, since a 2/3 majority supports a “partially” universal health care plan, which would still leave 15 million people uninsured.

To the contrary, support for universal health coverage for catastrophic health problems only seems much narrower than a broader universal health care plan. Interestingly, the electorate seems to expect the Federal government to be a key catalyst of universal healthcare, as voters dismiss the idea of curbing Federal government’s role in healthcare.

The analysis above reviews over 60,000 expressed opinion on healthcare on over 200 questions that run the whole gamut of health care proposals for the 2008 primaries and presidential elections. The most important and selective questions on Select2008 on universal health care are the following ones:

- <a href=”http://www.select2008.com/question/achieve_universal_healthcare_insurance_coverage_as_quickly_as_possible”> Achieve universal healthcare as quickly as possible </a> - 49% agree and 42% disagree out of 2,000+ votes in 2008 / 350+ votes last week;

- <a href=”http://www.select2008.com/question/universal_healthcare_for_32_million_uninsured”>Propose a universal healthcare plan that covers at least 32 million out of the 47 million uninsured U.S. residents </a> – 64% agree and 28% disagree out of 2,050+ votes in 2008 / 550+ votes last week;

- <a href=”http://www.select2008.com/question/provide_universal_healthcare_for_catastrophic_coverage_only”> Provide universal coverage for catastrophic healthcare issues only</a> – 44% agree and 40% disagree out of 1,450+ votes in 2008 / 350+ votes last week;

- <a href=”http://www.select2008.com/question/limit_the_federal_government%27_role_in_healthcare”>Limit the Federal government's role in healthcare and curb large entitlement programs </a> – 40% agree and 48% disagree out of 3800+ votes in 2008/ 850+ votes last week.

Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have debated their health care plans in great details when they met on stage in Cleveland, OH last Tuesday. Their health care plans showcase significant differences between them and are also very telling about their likely government and leadership styles.

Select2008’s exclusive online polling has gathered over 500,000 expressed opinions over the month of February over the whole spectrum of election issues. We have taken a closer look at health care issues to gauge voters’ support for some of Clinton’s and Obama’s key proposals.

The Select2008 Blog took a closer look at the following issues and reviews them in details in three blog posts:

- Universal Healthcare - Select2008.com’s Exclusive Look at Voters’ Support for Universal Health Care in Clinton’s and Obama’s Plans - Financing Universal Health Care - Select2008.com’s Exclusive Look at Voters Support for Financing Clinton’s and Obama’s Universal Health Care Plans - Mandatory Health Care - Select2008.com’s Exclusive Look at Voters’ Support for Mandatory Health Care

The analysis is based on over 43,300 votes over the last couple of months and 7,800 votes this week, i.e. substantially enough votes to make this analysis substantive. Readers can further track election issues and particular questions on the Select2008 website. The newly redesigned face off vote page also displays live polling data, as users go through and answer the questions.

Last week’s debate between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and these last few days on the campaign trail have highlighted key differences between the two candidates’ platform and positions.

Key policy and programmatic differences in the Clinton vs. Obama Face Off concern domestic issues – such as healthcare, immigration, and retirement - and foreign affairs issues – including diplomacy, free trade, and the war in Iraq. The summary below also includes links to the corresponding questions on Select2008.

Foreign Affairs – Clinton and Obama have strongly disagreed on several foreign affairs-related issues:

- Obama stated his support in favor of talking with leaders of 'rogue' nations without preconditions, including the Iranian leadership and the newly-nominated Cuban leader, Raul Castro;

- the two candidates further disagree on normalizing relations with Cuba;

- Clinton supported the Senate resolution on the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, while Obama asserted that the Senate resolution on the Iranian Revolutionary Guard was paving the path for a military engagement with Iran;

- The two candidates also disagree on having the U.S. join the International Criminal Court;

Free Trade – Free trade was a divisive issue during the primaries campaign, as candidates faced a softening economy; this issue is particularly sensitive ahead of the Ohio primaries. Although both candidates supported the Peru free trade agreement, they disagree on key free trade issues: negotiate new free trade agreements and renegotiate NAFTA;

War in Iraq – Clinton and Obama have had differences over the War in Iraq from the onset back in 2002; the two candidates also disagree on the way forward on Iraq, either by federalizing Iraq along sectarian lines, or by following the conclusions from the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, as well as the size and mission of the U.S. “residual” force in Iraq;

Universal Healthcare – Both candidates have come out in favor of Universal Healthcare. However, Clinton’s Universal healthcare plan differs quite significantly from Obama’s healthcare plan, including on issues as fundamental as:

- universal coverage for all Americans,

- mandatory coverage for all Americans,

- drugs reimportation,

- means-tested tax credits for healthcare insurance,

- health insurance for small business employees, and

- access to the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program

Immigration – On immigration, the two candidates have disagreed on mainly two issues: the support for driving licenses for undocumented immigrants and the scope of an earned legalization program for undocumented immigrants.

Retirement – Both Clinton and Obama have made proposals on retirement to ensure Social Security’s future, guarantee its defined benefit pensions, and facilitate retirement savings. However, the candidates have disagreed on key measures to maintain Social Security’s funding into the future, such as raising or eliminating the cap on Social Security taxable income to prevent benefit cuts for future retirees, and levying Social Security taxes on income revenues higher than $200,000/year.