Back in June, four national polls — Rasmussen, NBC/WSJ, Democracy Corps, and CNN — showed what Americans thought of Obamacare then. By a margin of 4.3 percent (44.3 percent to 40 percent), they supported it. So the drop in support for Obamacare has been 12.8 percent in five months.
And that’s not even the full extent of the bad news for Obamacare supporters. Even in June, the intensity of opposition was clearly greater than the intensity of support, but now the ratio of those strongly opposed to strongly supportive has grown even larger. In June, when the Rasmussen poll showed 5 percent more people in support of Obamacare than opposed to it, those who felt “strongly” swung the other way — with 34 percent opposing it strongly and only 24 percent supporting it strongly. Today, the same poll shows that people who feel strongly (one way or the other) oppose Obamacare by better than 2-to-1: 43 percent to 21 percent. A 10-point gap among the vehement has become a 22-point gap.
Furthermore, there’s increasing evidence that supporters of Obamacare are disproportionately located in heavily Democratic districts, and that independents — a crucial voting block in competitive districts — may have swung even further against Obamacare than anyone else has. In June, a Fox News poll showed that more than 2 out of 3 independents approved of President Obama’s performance, while the same poll now shows that only 2 out of 5 do. Across a 5-month period, during which the president has devoted himself mostly to health care, his support among independents has dropped (among those who have an opinion) from 72 percent to 40 percent — even as his support among Democrats has remained essentially constant. (His support among Republicans has dropped from 31 percent to 16 percent.)
Why are all but the most staunch Democrats fleeing Obamacare in droves? A recent Rasmussen poll indicates that Americans don’t like the sound of Obamacare and don’t think it would address their principal concerns. Back around the time that then-Senator Obama clinched the Democratic nomination, only 29 percent of Americans rated our health-care system as good or excellent. Now, having had something to compare it to, 49 percent rate it as good or excellent.
And when asked now what the biggest problem in American health care is, 62 percent say it’s high costs — more than three times the number who give any other answer. Obamacare would do nothing to control nationwide health-care costs, while raising the amounts that Americans would pay in taxes and premiums. In fact, the Office of the Chief Actuary at the Department of Health and Human Services says that passing Obamacare would increase costs in relation to not passing it, bending the cost-curve the wrong direction, and would raise the amount we spend on health care from 17 percent to 21 percent of our Gross Domestic Product.
No wonder then that Obamacare is facing nearly double-digit deficits, appears to be losing support by the day, is less popular still among those who feel strongly about the issue, and has likely lost even more support among crucial independent voters than among any other group. It is time to kill this expensive, intrusive, unpopular monster — once and for all.
The American People Don’t Want Obamacare (and They Want It Less All the Time)
Jeffrey H. Anderson
Back in June, four national polls — Rasmussen, NBC/WSJ, Democracy Corps, and CNN — showed what Americans thought of Obamacare then. By a margin of 4.3 percent (44.3 percent to 40 percent), they supported it. So the drop in support for Obamacare has been 12.8 percent in five months.
And that’s not even the full extent of the bad news for Obamacare supporters. Even in June, the intensity of opposition was clearly greater than the intensity of support, but now the ratio of those strongly opposed to strongly supportive has grown even larger. In June, when the Rasmussen poll showed 5 percent more people in support of Obamacare than opposed to it, those who felt “strongly” swung the other way — with 34 percent opposing it strongly and only 24 percent supporting it strongly. Today, the same poll shows that people who feel strongly (one way or the other) oppose Obamacare by better than 2-to-1: 43 percent to 21 percent. A 10-point gap among the vehement has become a 22-point gap.
Furthermore, there’s increasing evidence that supporters of Obamacare are disproportionately located in heavily Democratic districts, and that independents — a crucial voting block in competitive districts — may have swung even further against Obamacare than anyone else has. In June, a Fox News poll showed that more than 2 out of 3 independents approved of President Obama’s performance, while the same poll now shows that only 2 out of 5 do. Across a 5-month period, during which the president has devoted himself mostly to health care, his support among independents has dropped (among those who have an opinion) from 72 percent to 40 percent — even as his support among Democrats has remained essentially constant. (His support among Republicans has dropped from 31 percent to 16 percent.)
Why are all but the most staunch Democrats fleeing Obamacare in droves? A recent Rasmussen poll indicates that Americans don’t like the sound of Obamacare and don’t think it would address their principal concerns. Back around the time that then-Senator Obama clinched the Democratic nomination, only 29 percent of Americans rated our health-care system as good or excellent. Now, having had something to compare it to, 49 percent rate it as good or excellent.
And when asked now what the biggest problem in American health care is, 62 percent say it’s high costs — more than three times the number who give any other answer. Obamacare would do nothing to control nationwide health-care costs, while raising the amounts that Americans would pay in taxes and premiums. In fact, the Office of the Chief Actuary at the Department of Health and Human Services says that passing Obamacare would increase costs in relation to not passing it, bending the cost-curve the wrong direction, and would raise the amount we spend on health care from 17 percent to 21 percent of our Gross Domestic Product.
No wonder then that Obamacare is facing nearly double-digit deficits, appears to be losing support by the day, is less popular still among those who feel strongly about the issue, and has likely lost even more support among crucial independent voters than among any other group. It is time to kill this expensive, intrusive, unpopular monster — once and for all.
Nothing contained in this blog is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of the Pacific Research Institute or as an attempt to thwart or aid the passage of any legislation.