Another poll shows Obama’s approval rating on health care below 50%

Actually, it’s the same Gallup poll that I linked yesterday, but I didn’t realize at the time that this makes not one, not two, not three but four polls this month where Obama failed to crack 50 percent on his pet issue. Money quote:

“Obama’s support on health care is similiiar to the pattern that polls found for Bill Clinton in 1993,” says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. “In April of 1993, a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll found 51 percent of Americans who approved of how Clinton was handling health care policy. By August of that year, Clinton’s approval rating on health care had dropped to 44 percent.”

Even more ominous for The One, none of those four polls include the new data released today by Politico showing his credibility on this subject circling the drain:

In addition, more respondents said government-managed solutions would make the health care situation worse than said they would make it better or keep the situation the same.

Asked what effect a government-managed health care coverage option would have on access to health services, 40 percent said it would make the situation worse, 38 percent said it would make it better and 22 percent said it would remain the same. Asked what its effect would be on the quality of health care, 42 percent said it would make health care worse, 33 percent said it would make it better and 25 percent said it would not have an effect.

Nearly half of respondents — 44 percent — believe government-managed coverage will increase the price of health care. Only 27 percent think a government-managed health care system would lower costs, while 29 percent said prices would remain the same.

It’s not the 40+% of naysayers that are interesting — that can be chalked up to party-line Republican skepticism — but the anemic support in the high 20s or low 30s for cost savings and quality, proving that even Democrats are starting to detect an odor. Like I said yesterday, I think the stimulus did him in: You can’t bet that much dough on your economic forecasting skills, lose that badly, and then expect your fans to trust you to the same degree as before. No wonder his approval rating on the economy’s now in negative territory. Good luck tomorrow night, champ. You’ll need it.

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