Don’t worry, they weren’t dragged out but rather, er, “bamboozled” by cops into leaving voluntarily. Even so, file this away with Politico’s story about Democratic “town halls gone wild” as further evidence of rising anger about The One’s signature program. I can’t tell for sure if the concern here is that the current plans for health-care reform go too far or not far enough — it sounds like the latter — but either way it’s a sweet peg for Gallup’s new poll on how seniors are the age group that’s most skeptical of ObamaCare. Proof that grandma’s worried about waiting three years for a hip replacement if suddenly everyone in America’s lining up in the waiting room to get their tax-dollar money’s worth? Sure. But she’s worried about you, too:
According to recent Gallup analysis, the overwhelming majority of seniors have health insurance coverage, and roughly three-quarters of those 65 and older are covered by a government-sponsored plan, such as Medicare or Medicaid. Thus it might be expected that seniors would be more negative about the potential impact of reform on their personal situations, but perhaps more positive about its impact on others. This is not the case.
In addition to being less likely to believe healthcare reform will improve their own medical care and access, seniors are far less likely than younger adults to believe the country as a whole will benefit. Only a quarter of seniors, versus about half of those 18 to 49 and 50 to 64 years, believe a reform law would expand access to healthcare nationally…
Similarly, only about a third of seniors, compared with close to half of younger adults, believe reform would improve medical care in the U.S…
Also, seniors, as well as younger Americans, tend to believe healthcare reform would increase rather than decrease healthcare costs in the country as a whole.
His approval rating among seniors? Forty-nine percent, down from 61 percent at the start of his term and just slightly below where it is for 30-to-64-year-olds. Remind me again, which demographic group by age is known for its high turnout during elections? See you in 2010, Barry! Click the image to watch.
Update: As suspected, it looks like group in Feinstein’s office is actually further left than The One. No matter. The real story here is the poll. Those town halls in August are going to be awfully fun to watch.
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