Quinnipiac poll: 39% of Americans need to inform on 52%

I’ll bet that Mr. Flag at the White House Snitch Center has a lot of work on his hands this week.  According to Quinnipiac, 52% of American voters are probably passing around “fishy” information about how the White House wants to take over health care, and worry that government will ruin a system that the vast majority of people like and want to keep for themselves.  Sounds like 39% of the people had better get busy on e-mail:

American voters, by a 55 – 35 percent margin, are more worried that Congress will spend too much money and add to the deficit than it will not act to overhaul the health care system, according to a Quinnipiac University national poll released today. By a similar 57 – 37 percent margin, voters say health care reform should be dropped if it adds “significantly” to the deficit.

By a 72 – 21 percent margin, voters do not believe that President Barack Obama will keep his promise to overhaul the health care system without adding to the deficit, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University national poll finds.

American voters disapprove 52 – 39 percent of the way President Obama is handling health care, down from 46 – 42 percent approval July 1, with 60 – 34 percent disapproval from independent voters. Voters say 59 – 36 percent that Congress should not pass health care reform if only Democratic members support it. …

Only 21 percent of voters say the plan will improve the quality of care they receive, while 36 percent say it will hurt their quality of care and 39 percent say it will make no difference.

The big number here is the independents.  Democrats got elected by splitting independents away from the GOP, especially in the 2008 presidential election and the 2006 midterms.  Despite their insistence that opposition to ObamaCare has been cooked up in RNC laboratories and transmitted through people wearing Brooks Brothers suits, the 26-point gap with independents shows that Democrats are alienating the very constituency that keeps them in power.

Voters in the Quinnipiac poll support elements of ObamaCare, but not the cost.  For instance, they support mandates on businesses to supply insurance by a 54%-38% margin, and respondents also like the idea of a public plan by almost a 2-1 margin.  They strongly oppose individual mandates to carry health insurance, 68%-26%, a key part of ObamaCare that achieves universal coverage by making it illegal to be without insurance of some kind.

Obama has more demographic problems than just independents.  Women now oppose Obama on health care issues, 49%-41%, a 17-point swing since July 1st.  Young voters, in this poll defined as 18-34 year olds, oppose Obama on health care 48%-44%, a 23-point swing from their 54%-35% support a month earlier.  Low income voters swung 12 points and now oppose Obama on this issue 47%-43%.  When populism starts failing among the young and the relatively poor, who will buy it at all?

Blowback