Democrats and Republicans Now Have Same Low Favorability Rating; Approval for Obamacare Sinking

posted at 2:02 pm on April 9, 2010 by Howard Portnoy
[ Healthcare ]   

It’s not good news for either party, but it’s got to leave an especially bad taste in the mouths of Democrats and the liberal punditry, who were fitting the Republicans out for a shroud in late 2008. A poll released by Gallup shows Democrats’ favorability at 41%, representing an 18-year low. They are at virtual parity with the Republicans, who have a favorability rating of 42%. If there is a lesson to be learned from this, I suppose it is that passing a mammoth piece of legislation along party lines against the will of the people will come back to bite you.

Speaking of the will of the people, another poll, this one courtesy of CBS News, reveals that opposition to the health care reform initiative has grown since it was passed into law. According to the findings, 53% of Americans now say they disapprove of the new reforms, including 39% who say they disapprove strongly. On the eve of passage, 37% said they approved and 48% disapproved. Only 20% of Americans believe the new health care reforms will help them personally and 36% think the new reforms will bring them harm.

Barack Obama and his cohorts in Congress continue to try to sell the health care package to Americans after the fact of its passage, but they’re having minimal success. Part of the reason is that in their haste to pass a piece of legislation that was 2,700 pages long, the Democrats evidently don’t know what’s in the law. Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz told constituents at a town hall meeting that the law does not mandate that every American purchase health insurance. Either the Congresswoman was lying or she isn’t aware that anyone who opts not to buy insurance will be assessed a fine.

Wasserman isn’t the only one confused by what’s in this law. Carrie McLean, a spokesperson for eHealthInsurance, states the company has received hundreds of thousands of calls from consumers, 80,000 in March alone, many demanding to know where their free health care is.

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