Most Seniors Enrolled Say Drug Benefit Saves Money

But the intensity of concern has diminished. AARP, a senior citizens organization that backed the drug benefit in Congress, lost about 60,000 members over the issue. But such protest departures have stopped, said David P. Sloane, AARP's top lobbyist, and have been replaced by requests for information about how the program works.

Still, opinions about the program, which passed Congress in 2003 by narrow margins and over substantial Democratic opposition, remain heavily influenced by partisanship.

According to the Post-ABC News poll, a majority of Republicans (56 percent) said they approve of the new benefit, while a similar majority of Democrats disapprove. Most Americans say the Republicans deserve the credit, or the blame, for the new program.

At the same time, the poll suggests that Part D is not shaping up as a major factor in the upcoming elections. The issue ranks well below hot-button topics such as Iraq and the economy: 59 percent say it will be important in their vote, compared with 83 percent for Iraq and 80 percent for the economy.

A total of 1,229 randomly selected adults, including 386 respondents 65 or older, were interviewed by telephone April 6 to 9 for this survey. The margin of error is plus or minus three percentage points for the overall results, and plus or minus five percentage points for the results based on the responses of all seniors.

Bush yesterday made light of his political woes while explaining why he had Medicare participants speak for him. "See, one way to convince people to take a look is to have others talk about the benefits of the program," he said. "They probably got a little more credibility than I do."

"Yeah," said Missourian Helen Robinette, sitting next to him, prompting laughter from the crowd.

Bush turned to her. "You don't have to agree with that," he joked.

As he made the case for his Medicare plan, Bush also came to assist two Republicans running in the fall. At the Missouri event, he was shadowed by Sen. James M. Talent (Mo.), who faces a tough challenge. Bush called him "a straight shooter." And in the evening, the president headlined a Des Moines fundraiser for Rep. Jim Nussle (Iowa), who is running for governor.

Staff writer Peter Baker and polling director Richard Morin contributed to this report.