Recent AFL-CIO opinion research of union members and retirees and polls of the general public show Americans overwhelming agree on the need for health care reform.

AFL-CIO opinion research of union members and retirees found:

• 71 percent of union members believe it is “critical” for elected officials to address health care (compared with 75 percent for Iraq, 67 percent for terrorism and 43 percent for economic conditions).
• 82 percent of union members say the health care situation is either in a “state of crisis” (32 percent) or has “major problems” (50 percent).
• 76 percent of union workers believe the health care situation either needs an “overhaul” (30 percent) or “major reforms” (46 percent).
• 82 percent of union members say the “government should do more” in the area of health care (compared with 67 percent for education and 63 percent for labor/employment issues).

Polls of the general public show strikingly similar results:

• 90 percent of respondents to a CBS/New York Times poll of the general public earlier this year said the U.S. health care system needs to undergo fundamental change (54 percent) or be rebuilt completely (36 percent).
• 95 percent of the public believes the fact that many Americans do not have health insurance is a very serious (70 percent) or somewhat serious (25 percent) problem, according to that same poll.
• 84 percent of the same respondent pool said they would favor expansion of a government program that provides health insurance for some children in low- and moderate-income families in order to cover all uninsured children.
• 85 percent of respondents to an Associated Press poll earlier this year said health care was either extremely or very important to them as an issue while 86 percent of those polled in another CNN survey around the same time agreed.
• 76 percent of Americans either strongly support (53 percent) or somewhat support (23 percent) providing guaranteed health care coverage for every American, according to a recent Gallup poll.

Click here  to read more about "our take" on health care reform.