What do the polls on health care policy tell us? Does the public know enough about health care policy to give valid responses to analysts? Other than a handful of people in Washington, most had no clue what was in the final health care bill. How can you respond whether you like a proposal or not, if you have no idea what's in it?

I really have to dash, but I wanted to share some interesting articles.

At Gallup.com, Frank Newport reports that there is a huge variation in polling results depending on the survey question. He concludes that people are worried about the cost of healthcare, but they want to help out those without health insurance. He's doubtful that healthcare passage will have any impact on November; he thinks the status of the economy will be the deciding factor.

Like Newport, pollster Stanley Greenberg believes that voters will care more about the state of the economy than health care in November.

Most Americans fear losing their insurance because of a job loss or being denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition. Once we get past this talk of socialism and big government, I think most Americans are going to be very pleased with this program. This discussion has even reached the mommybloggers. Dooce talks about her struggles with health insurance.

The public is worried about costs. And they should be. I am worried about costs. I'm worried that this reform is a Frankenstein policy that pieces together bits of the old program with bits of a single payer program creating something horrible. The worst of both worlds. We'll get the growth, but be unable to control the costs. This is a legitimate fear, see David Brooks and Megan McArdle for more on this.

(more to come)