Survey says: Health care, insurance our top priority

Chris Barge, Rocky Mountain News

Published September 28, 2007 at midnight

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Steadily rising costs have made health care and health insurance the No. 1 issue in the minds of Colorado voters, according to poll results released this morning by the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce.

That's a significant change from just nine months ago, when education polled as the state's most pressing concern.

And while voters feel comfortable with their current tax burden, "other data strongly suggest the public wants to avoid it getting any heavier," according to David Hill, the Houston-based Republican consultant who conducted the poll for the Chamber.

Hill's firm polled 602 active Colorado voters from Aug. 4-7 on their attitudes about the economy, labor, health care, transportation, education and the Roan Plateau.

In general, it found a sharp decline in consumer confidence since the firm's last similar poll in December.

And when it comes to Colorado labor law, Hill said he found that voters do not want unions to gain a stronger foothold.

"It seems people are kind of satisfied with the status quo," Hill said. "If you are an innovator in Colorado, you innovate at your own risk."

That could mean Gov. Bill Ritter and the legislature have their work cut out for them as they contemplate whether to raise taxes to improve health care, transportation, higher education and a slate of other issues.

In the poll, voters gave Ritter a solid, 57 percent approval rating, with 19 percent saying they disapprove of the job the Democrat is doing.

But they held the Democratic-controlled legislature in less esteem, with 41 percent approving, down from 50 percent in December. And 36 percent said they disapprove of the Legislature's performance, up 5 percent.

Most of that grumbling came from Republicans, who "have finally found out they've lost control of the Legislature" and now feel their voice has been marginalized, Hill said.

House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver, said popularity ratings matter less to him than how the legislature responds to the issues most pressing to voters. The fact that the legislature is actively addressing health care, education and the economy — all top issues according to the poll — show that lawmakers are steering the proper course, he said.

When asked if they approved of drilling for oil and gas on the Roan Plateau if it meant decreasing dependence on foreign oil and more money for education, respondents voiced strong support.

As a combined issue, jobs and the economy ranked even higher than health care.

Voters said they feel they are economically worse off than they were last year, and they don't expect the state's economy to improve any time soon.

And even though they rank health care, the environment and childhood education in the first tier of priorities for the governor and state legislature to address, they also place government spending and taxes alongside those issues.

When it comes to health care reform specifically, a tax hike to pay for it will find itself up against a general perception among voters that while the system seems broken, they are generally satisfied with their own policies, Hill said.

That does not surprise Bill Lindsay, who chairs the state's blue ribbon commission studying health care reform. The fact is that the 83 percent of Coloradans who have health care are generally satisfied with their coverage, he said.

Lindsay said he was happy to hear that health care is now the voters' No. 1 priority. And he pointed out that it's the state's uninsured, and especially its uninsured children, that voters will ultimately have to raise their taxes to insure.

"It's a worthwhile goal, because children are our future," he said.

If the government wants to increase revenue, voters said they would be most open to approving so-called "sin-taxes" on casinos and liquor. On the other hand, they would most resist increased property taxes.

That could mean trouble for supporters of Denver's ballot question asking voters this November whether to raise their property taxes to pay for streets, bridges, parks, libraries, child care centers, cultural facilities and a host of other improvements.

But Mayor John Hickenlooper said the city is asking voters for a property tax increase because its own polling showed it would be perceived as the fairest way to appropriate funds.

Furthermore, he said, many of the issues that the poll found most important to voters — such as health care and the economy — aren't issues that can be fixed with local tax hikes.

He noted that 75 percent of the items that the bond issue would pay for fall under the broad topics of education and roads and bridges — topics that also ranked high on voters' minds in the survey.

"If you look at the issues on this list that are actually tax issues, we're right there in the sweet spot," he said.

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