Gallup’s headline is “46% Favor, 40% Oppose Repealing Healthcare Law,” but I think they’re overlooking the bigger news.
First, the idea that 14 percent of Americans don’t care whether or not Obamacare goes into effect is pretty surprising and interesting. Note that Obama and the Democrats need this to be a driving issue for voters in 2012; put another way, only 40 percent of adults (not registered voters, not likely voters) say they want to keep Obamacare as it is. Barring some dramatic new development, the undecided are unlikely to vote against Republicans because they repealed health care.
Second, look at the partisan breakdown:
After Obamacare’s passage, if you had told Republicans that by January 2011 only 64 percent of Democrats would want to keep it, they would have danced jigs. The notion that nearly a quarter of Democrats support repeal of Obamacare is a big deal. Joe Biden might even throw in another modifier.
I'm sure many of those Democrats want it repealed for single payer. They believe they shouldn't have to pay for healthcare. With single payer, it's free. (Liberals are funny people.)
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWe have never repealed a roll out of Big Government like this but we have never had this opportunity either. This is really amazing and gives us a real chance of success. Not over reaching and keeping the issue alive until Nov. 2012 could deliver the Senate the presidency and a few more house seats to the Republicans. I am really pleased at this show of how the real American Spirit is alive in Americans still today. Perhaps we are not doomed to decline as we have been led to believe? Very encouraging.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abusehow do they get to a number of 46% wanting repeal ?
based on the numbers shown you would need a partisan breakdown of the electorate of:
D 40
I 29
R 31
didn't Gallup just report the breakdown as
D 33
I 29
R 38
using these numbers the vote for repeal reaches 50%
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseDitto, DBL1. I'd like to see a poll that assesses the popularity of a single-payer plan. I bet it's well over 50% among Democrats.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbusePrepare for a Rush-a-lanche: Rush just mentioned this item on his radio show.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIn reply to DorsaiGuy on percentage calculations:
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseGallup Breakdown is 31%D 29%R 38%I. so the weighted repeal % = 78%*0.29 + 43%*.38 + 24%*0.31 = 46.4%
DBL1,
"Single payer" or government funded health care isn't free, it's paid for through taxes.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseDon't get cocky.
The problem is that all these votes are symbolic until we win the Senate and Presidency. The democrats only need enough votes to let President Obama's veto stand. By 2012, he's hoping that this is all old news. Now that Obamacare is passed, repealing it is going to be very hard. And he's COUNTING on congress crippling it, so that he can claim that all its faults are just a result of "sabotage". Fully funding it if the democrats manage to have the house and presidency at the same time will be much easier. And count on him using the health and human services department's regulatory authority to wreak havoc in the meantime-- creating chaos that he can blame on republicans.
Only by winning back control of Congress and the Presidency can we get the healthcare industry under control. Otherwise, it's housing all over again: zany liberal public/private schemes whose failures they blame on republicans.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse2big2fail, of course it's free. Taxes are only paid by Republicans.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseNo 2big2fail, It's paid for by the degradation of society and destruction of freedom.
Single payer means that ONLY the government pays, meaning ONLY the government can pay. Any deviation from that would be a federal offence.
That means that someone going into Chinatown for an accupunture treatment from some traditional practitioner would be violating federal law. A wife comes home after working all day and her husband gives her a foot massage - and the husband only prayed four times that day facing Obama instead of the requisite five - then he would in violation of giving unauthorized "therapy" and stripped of all freedoms, rights - especially the right to vote, which is the whole point of this, to force total and absolute loyalty to the Obamacrats.
People who understand liberals are VERY Afraid of what is to come, and unless they are willing to take up arms against a sea of troubles, the bureaucrats are just going to keep pushing and pushing because they know that the American people are just too yellow-bellied to do anything about them.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe problem is an overpopulation of people who can't or wont get an education and a job to support themselves, bred on welfare to vote demo- a huge number of tax users, not tax payers.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAS serious health problem would bankrupt a middle income earner, but we cannot support so many people. Illegal and legal aliens are a very irritating cost.
I want ObamaCare repealed as well. It is a giveaway that further entrenches the insurance industry. And, the government does not have the right to force us to buy a corporate product, especially one that is over-priced and provides inadequate health coverage.
I want a single payer system. And, I'm not alone. Since at least 1987, polls have shown the majority of the public favor a single-payer system when a New York Times/CBS Poll showed 78 percent of people are in favor of such a system. Since then a decade polling shows Americans consistently support a single payer health care system, improved Medicare for all.
- A Washington Post poll in 2003 found support for such a system at 62% to 33%, with 78% opposed to the current insurance-based system because of its costs (the costs have grown greatly since 2003).
- In 2005 a Harris poll found 75% support a universal health care system, while only 17% opposed. A February 2007 New York Times/CBS News poll found 64% of Americans believed government should guarantee health insurance for all Americans, only 27% thought this was not the responsibility of the federal government. Further, 76% thought it was more important to provide access to health care for all Americans than to maintain tax cuts. Indeed, 60% of Americans were willing to pay more taxes for guaranteed health care. And, 81% were dissatisfied with the current system of insurance dominated health care.
- This is consistent with a 2007 CNN poll, where 64% agreed that government should provide a national health insurance program for all Americans, even if it required higher taxes. A Catholic Healthcare West poll, also in 2007, found even higher support with 72% agreeing the time has come for universal healthcare in America, and 63% believed we need universal healthcare in America, even if it means increasing taxes. In December 2007 an AP/Yahoo poll found 65% of Americans favoring a universal health insurance program like Medicare that is run by the government and financed by taxpayers.
- Polls in 2008 made similar findings. An April 2008 Quinnipiac Poll found that 65% believe the government has a responsibility to provide adequate health care to all Americans. Even better than a poll in Massachusetts, “....local ballot initiatives supporting single payer and opposing individual mandates passed by landslide margins in all ten legislative districts where they appeared. With almost all precincts tallied, roughly 73 percent of 181,000 voters in the ten districts voted YES....”
- In 2009 a New York Times/CBS poll found Americans support the government providing health insurance with 59% saying the government should provide national health insurance and 49% who say such insurance should cover all medical problems. A Grove Insight Poll found 59% of Americans favored a Medicare for all system over a private insurance model. And, a Kaiser poll found 58% Americans favored “getting their insurance through an expanded, universal form of Medicare-for all?”
- In 2010, votes took place in Massachusetts and 62% of voters supported a single payer system. The ballots spanned 80 different cities and towns. Five of the districts backing single payer reform voted for Scott Brown in the special senate election, which was largely seen as a referendum on national health reform, showing that the goal of improved and expanded Medicare for All is supported by a diverse range of communities across the state.
Physicians also consistently show high levels of support for a single payer system. A 2008 poll by the Annals of Internal Medicine of physicians nationally found that “59% 'support government legislation to establish national health insurance,' while 32% oppose it and 9 percent are neutral.” A 2007 poll of physicians found “Of 390 physicians, 64% favored a single-payer system, 25% Health Savings Accounts, and 12% managed care. The majority of physicians (86%) also agreed that it is the responsibility of society, through the government, to ensure that everyone has access to good medical care.” A 2007 poll of New Hampshire doctors found Two thirds of New Hampshire physicians, including 81% of primary care clinicians, indicated they “would favor a simplified payor system in which public funds, collected through taxes, were used to pay directly for services to meet the basic healthcare needs of all citizens.”
If you want to see the links to these polls or articles about them visit External Link
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