CBS NEWS POLL

For release: Thursday, May 22

nd
, 2014
7:00 a ET
Pro!les a" "he #e"erans $d%n%s"ra"%on
May 20-21, 2014
Americans are divided as to who they think is most to blame for the problems at Veterans
Administration medical facilities, which involve allegations that VA hospitals kept delays in
treatment off the books and patients may have died waiting for care b!t Veterans Affairs
"ecretary #ric "hinseki and the VA $%%&' receive more blame than either local VA hospitals
$2(&' or )resident *arack +bama $1,&'- Abo!t a .!arter doesn/t have an opinion-
0here are partisan differences1 2hile %1& of 3ep!blicans blame "hinseki and the VA for the
problems, nearly as many blame )resident +bama $%0&'- 4ewer 5emocrats and independents
say Mr- +bama is to blame6 they are more likely to place blame on "hinseki and the VA and
local VA hospitals-
0hose who have served in the military are also more apt to blame "hinseki-
Who do &ou Blae Mos" 'or "he Pro!les a" "he #$(
0otal 3eps 5ems 7nds Veterans
#ric "hinseki and the VA %%& %1& %8& %0& %9&
:ocal VA hospitals 2( 20 %0 %0 28
*arack +bama 1, %0 , 1, 1(
5on/t know 2% 18 2% 2% 1,
Americans split as to the root ca!se of the long wait times for patients- 42& think the problems
of long waiting times at Veterans Administration medical facilities are the res!lt of not having
eno!gh reso!rces to take care of patients, b!t 41& think it/s more a matter of these hospitals
not properly managing their reso!rces- 3ep!blicans are more inclined than 5emocrats or
independents to say the problems are more of a management iss!e-
Lon) Wa%" T%es a" #$ *os+%"als $re Mos"ly ,ue "o-
0otal 3eps 5ems 7nds Veterans
;ot having ade.!ate reso!rces 42& 42& 42& 42& 44&
;ot properly managing reso!rces 41 4, %8 40 4%
+ther reason<don/t know 1, 11 20 1( 12
====================================================================================
0his poll was cond!cted by telephone May 20-21, 2014 among 1,0>9 ad!lts nationwide- 5ata collection
was cond!cted on behalf of ?*" ;ews by ""3" of Media, )A- )hone n!mbers were dialed from
samples of both standard land-line and cell phones- 0he error d!e to sampling for res!lts based on the
entire sample co!ld be pl!s or min!s three percentage points- 0he error for s!bgro!ps may be higher-
7nterviews were cond!cted in #nglish and "panish. 0his poll release conforms to the "tandards of
5isclos!re of the ;ational ?o!ncil on )!blic )olls-
CBS NEWS POLL
May 20-21, 2014
VA-6.Who do you blame most for the problems at Veterans Administration medical facilities
Barack Obama, Eric hinseki and the Veterans Administration, or local VA hospitals!
"" #O#A$ %E&O'(E'# ""
#otal %ep (em )nd
* * * *
Obama +, -. , +,
hinseki / Veterans Admin -- -+ -0 -.
$ocal VA hospitals 12 1. -. -.
(on3t kno45no ans4er 1- +0 1- 1-
VA-6a.(o you think the problems of lon6 4aitin6 times at Veterans Administration medical
facilities are mostly due to the VA not ha7in6 ade8uate resources to take care of patients or
mostly due to the VA not properly mana6in6 the resources it already has!
'ot ha7in6 ade8uate resource 91 91 91 91
'ot properly mana6in6 resources 9+ 9, -0 9.
ome other reason :7ol.; 9 1 < 9
(on3t kno45'o ans4er +- 0 +< +9
Total respondents: 1,056
Margin of error: 3pts