Race, economic differences impact support of Medicaid expansion, healthcare reform

More than 60 percent of poll respondents in Georgia and South Carolina favor expanding their state's Medicaid program to cover more people, while only a third approve of the health care reform law that would make it possible, a poll released Tuesday found. The results from five Southern states whose leaders oppose the reform law also reveal stark racial and class divisions. The poll by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies included 500 respondents each from Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, five states whose leaders oppose expanding their Medicaid program under the Affordable Care Act.