Poll: On Health Care, Public Trusts Insurance Companies More Than Republicans

Wow. With the health care debate gearing up, some new numbers from Gallup suggest that the public doesn’t exactly have a tremendous amount of confidence in Republican leaders on the issue.

Only 34% are confident that GOP leaders Congress will make the right decisions about health care reform — less than the insurance companies (35%) or the pharmaceutical companies (40%). By contrast, more have confidence in Dem leaders (42%), and even more trust Obama (58%).

In fairness, the gap between GOP leaders and insurance companies is within the margin of error. But still, being statistically tied with the insurance companies is pretty bad, and suggests that GOPers aren’t exactly heading into this fight with the wind at their backs.