Rasmussen: Only 34% say ObamaCare better than passing nothing

Rasmussen conducted its latest poll on the health-care overhaul bill in Congress on Wednesday and Thursday, after the announcement that the public option and the Medicare buy-in had been stripped from the bill.  The bill, which has never been popular with likely voters anyway, now only has even limited support from 34% of respondents who say it’s better than passing nothing.  A large majority of 57% says that Congress should just drop the whole thing, but surprisingly, liberals are still bitterly clinging to the remnants of ObamaCare:

Fifty-seven percent (57%) of voters nationwide say that it would be better to pass no health care reform bill this year instead of passing the plan currently being considered by Congress. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 34% think that passing that bill would be better.

Middle-income voters are more likely than others to say that passing no legislation is the better option.

One reason for this is that most Americans now believe they will be worse off if reform passes. Fifty-four percent (54%) hold that view while just 25% believe they would be better off.

Over the last couple of days, the Left’s political class has launched a big effort to stop the bill, claiming that it offers no real reform without a government-run insurance plan.  Former DNC chair Howard Dean has made the media rounds calling on Senate progressives to block a cloture vote.  Keith Olbermann blasted the insurance mandate, exhorting his viewers to defy the law and go to jail rather than comply.  Ed Schultz called Barack Obama “a sell-out” for his acquiescence to Joe Lieberman, as Raw Story reports:

Progressive radio’s most popular talker seems a little fed up with President Obama after this week’s health care concessions.

“Right now, Mr. President,” declared Ed Schultz on his 6 pm MSNBC show, “Your base thinks you’re nothing but a sellout, a corporate sellout, out that. I know it’s tough audio, but I’m your buddy Ed. I’ve got to tell you this. I don’t think anybody else is.”

Schultz’s words echo the flurry of liberal criticisms aimed at Obama and the Democratic leadership this week, following their jettisoning of the popular public option and the Medicare buy-in provision for those 55 and up from the legislation.

“You aren’t listening to the very people who put you in office, Mr. President,” Schultz, who is typically a vigorous supporter of Obama, continued. “This isn’t about your legacy. It’s about the people in America who need health care now.”

Has this campaign been effective?  Not thus far, although it’s still early.  According to Rasmussen’s internals, 58% of Democrats want the bill passed — not an overwhelming number, but it’s more than twice as many (28%) who believe it better to kill the bill. Among self-professed liberals, that number moves upward to 70/21, which means that moderates are much less likely to support the continuing efforts to pass the bill (37/54 among all moderates).  That number increases even more among the “political class,” which supports passage over the status quo, 73/13.

One interesting demographic, new to this poll, is that of Obama’s support categories.  Those who “strongly approve” of Obama’s job performance support passage over starting over by an 82/7 split.  However, among those who “somewhat approve,” that number drops to 52/30, while the Not Sure category splits 0/95 — and the disapproval categories speak for themselves.  Only the Obama True Believers and the political class seem to be enthusiastic about this bill, which really is a redundancy anyway.  But it shows that Olbermann, Dean, and others are in a very small minority of thought in this category, at least so far.

However, Republicans looking to slow down Harry Reid’s progress on the bill may actually help the progressive pushback .  The longer it takes to get to a cloture vote — if Reid ever does get to one — the more time the pushback has to work.  It won’t take much for this bill to unite everyone in sheer disgust, and while it does, it will erode the standing of Democrats in Congress as well as Obama.

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