With the November election fast approaching, politicians in both parties are struggling to best position themselves on healthcare reform. A new poll provides some surprising insights into what a winning strategy on this issue might look like.

The poll finds that an overwhelming, bipartisan majority of American voters oppose government rationing of medical care - a practice that looks to be picking up steam under the Obama administration.

If candidates don't distance themselves from rationing this fall, they probably won't be in office come January.

Commissioned by the 60 Plus Association, the poll surveyed over 800 registered voters. Fully 82 percent of respondents said that they oppose government medical rationing based on costs.

Over half think the new healthcare law will lead to rationing. Importantly, this fear isn't confined to Republicans - nearly 40 percent of the people with this view voted for Obama in 2008.

Public confidence is also shaky when it comes to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the federal body primarily responsible for determining which drugs patients have access too. Forty two percent of voters expressed distrust with the agency. And 72 percent said that the FDA's approval decisions should not be based on cost-effectiveness calculations.

These beliefs have political consequences. Typically, seniors are the patient group most affected by the FDA's actions. And among seniors that identified themselves as "swing" voters, 82 percent said they want the agency to avoid cost-based decisions.