Maybe I should have saved that Darth Vader clip for this post. Dude:
The Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that 48 percent of the public had a favorable view of the law in June while 41 percent had an unfavorable opinion. A month earlier, the split was 41 percent favorable to 44 percent unfavorable.
The latest survey results were not much different from those in March, shortly before the law was enacted. Then, at the end of a bitter year-long battle, 46 percent said they supported the proposed legislation while 42 percent opposed it…
“Overall, roughly a third of voters say that a candidate who voted for the health reform law will be more likely to get their vote, a third say less likely, and a third say it doesn’t really matter,” said the foundation, which studies and distributes information about health-care policy.
Only 12 percent say health care is their top issue in the fall, as compared to 29 percent who say it’s the economy. Any significance in the fact that a single poll’s swung from 41/44 to 48/41 in a month? Not really — except for the fact that other polls are showing an uptick in support too. Gallup went from 45/49 in April, shortly after Obama signed the bill, to 49/46 in mid-June. Around the same respective periods, the AP moved from 39/50 to 45/42. That’s the first time since October 2009 that three different polls sampled by Pollster.com have shown net support for O-Care in the same month. An important caveat: Rasmussen is no longer included in the Pollster average or else the overall trendline would be much worse. According to Ras’s latest, 52 percent support repealing the law — although even that number is down 11 points since last month. Double gulp. In any case, this is why I think the hand-wringing about Boehner and Cantor trying to bring two separate repeal measures to the floor this month is ultimately over nothing. Like Ramesh says, there are tactical benefits to revisiting the repeal issue now — if the vote is close, that’s a talking point for the GOP in close races in the fall — but with O-Care’s polling on the rebound, why would the vote be any closer now than it was in March?
Exit question: Why are the numbers coming back? The news about cost projections, etc., has been steadily bad. It can’t be because … The One has finally shut his big yapper about it, can it?
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