Two new polls show declining support for fully repealing Obamacare. Does this mean the GOP, on the verge of passing a bill repealing Obamacare in the House, should back down?
Not so, say GOP pollsters, who argue that the poll questions are poorly worded and that the demographic samples include a disproportionate number of Democrats.
Take the AP poll, which shows that 40 percent of adults support Obamacare and 41 percent oppose it. In November, the last time the AP polled this question, 38 percent supported Obamacare and 47 percent opposed it. But the sample in November was very different: 38 percent Republican and 39 percent Democrat. The sample in January wasn’t so balanced, with 42 percent of the responders Democrat and 36 percent Republican.
Even with the skewed demographics, Kellyanne Conway, president of the polling company, inc./WomanTrend, points out that there also remains “a huge difference in intensity,” with 30 percent strongly opposing Obamacare compared to 21 percent strongly supporting it.
Conway also notes that when asked if they would favor a law “that would require every American to have health insurance, or pay money to the government as a penalty if they do not, unless the person is very poor,” 59 percent are opposed. “When they actually hear what the health care reform is, they’re opposed to it,” she says.
The Marist poll finds that 35 percent of registered voters would like Obamacare changed so that it could do more, 13 percent would like it to do less, and 30 percent would prefer the law be fully repealed. But again, the numbers aren’t equal: 35 percent of those polled were Democrat, and 28 percent Republican. Exit polls for the 2010 election found equal numbers of Democrat and Republican voters, both parties represented by about 36 percent of voters respectively.
In addition, a GOP strategist notes that someone who favors buying insurance across state lines or reforming medical malpractice could interpret the Marist poll choices such that he picks the option that he would like Obamacare to do more.
But the pollsters also point out that many voters didn’t just want Obamacare repealed — they also wanted it replaced with a better system, a distinction that they fear these two polls didn’t adequately address with their word choices. John McLaughlin, CEO of McLaughlin and Associates, notes that when his firm asked voters in November if they would prefer to leave Obamacare as is, or repeal and replace it, 30 percent preferred that Obamacare be left in place, and 60 percent wanted it repealed and replaced.
Pollster Scott Rasmussen says that the GOP shouldn’t interpret these new polls as a signal to slow down their efforts to repeal Obamacare.
“People expect the Republicans to do this. It’s an absolutely essential thing for them,” says Rasmussen. “If they didn’t repeal it, the Republican party would be in deep trouble with their own base.”
“People plainly spoke all through 2010,” agrees Conway. “They expect this new Congress they put there to repeal it. And they expect them to work on something different.”
Thanks Ms, Trinko...didn't have to read the piece to know the numbers are flawed, go figure, but thanks for the work.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseShep Smith on Fox gleefully cited these numbers this afternoon while he was scolding the Republicans for keeping the "Job killing" language in the repeal bill. This is what they call Conservative TV!
There is no difference between a moderate Democrat and a moderate Republican. They both support big government and have a few conservative views. Both of them are aligned with the liberal point of view.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHow does Shepherd Smith keep a job on television? Forget his politics and whatever else - he can't read from a teleprompter without tripping over his tongue a half dozen times per sentence. My eight year old niece reads better than he does. He's the Ron Burgundy of Fox News. No, that's not fair to Ron Burgundy.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseShep just needs to be reminded every once in a while that "fair and balanced" doesn't mean accuracy is negotiable.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"How does Shepherd Smith keep a job on television? Forget his politics and whatever else - he can't read from a teleprompter without tripping over his tongue a half dozen times per sentence. My eight year old niece reads better than he does. He's the Ron Burgundy of Fox News. No, that's not fair to Ron Burgundy."
While it's disappointing to me that Shep is a somewhat of a liberal I still don't see how someone could dis him like that. He is probably the most entertaining newscaster on the air today. If I want the top stories fast I'll go to the internet; if I want the top stories told to me in a clever way with witty comments thrown in here or there I'll tune into Shep.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAs a liberal type who accidently got directed to the NR website, I decided to register and voice my opinion about Obamacare. Also, I was always an admirer of Bill Buckley although never conservative in outlook. It seems that you're all wrapped up in knots about the healthcare issue, and I'm sure most of you know most of the facts. For sure, Obamacare is highly imperfect because it was born out of serious conflicts, but it is a beginning and could be greatly improved upon. I only know that I lived in Europe for many years (I now live in NYC) and experienced up close the effectiveness of the various healthcare systems they have. Polls in Europe and Canada indicate that people there are generally happy with what they have and think there is something wrong why Americans haven't created a universal healthcare system. What I find very disappointing is that there is no serious desire on the part of American Conservatives to create a national healthcare system that works for everyone. It seems obvious that we won't be a healthy nation until we straighten this out. Part of the reason you don't want to move on this is because the government in one way or another has to be involved. There is no universal health care system anywhere that doesn't have governmental involvement on some level. I love the free market but I also love good government which I'm not sure Conservatives really want as they have done quite a bit over the years to fulfill Reagan's dictate that government is the problem. Is there any chance that things might change. We already have a 'socialistic' healthcare program called Medicare. Surely, being ingenious Americans we can create a healthcare system that works for all. Do we have a choice?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseObamaCare must be repealed based on its absence of merit and its disastrous consequences -- not based on the latest public opinion polls (which are, indeed, subject to manipulation and misinterpretation).
That's the clear mandate from the "polls" that count -- not public opinion polls, but ELECTORAL POLLS.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbusePolls?? Ha! Since when does the Right care about polls? The majority of Americans favor same sex marriage and DADT but they don't care what mere citizens think! They have corporate interests and a small rabid moralistic base to appeal to! This poll won't matter to anyone in Washington, one way or the other, because government officials don't give a flying fig what their constituents want.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse@hughman . . .
Please read the preceeding post to yours.
If your a consistent, astute follower of American politics you must know which way AP and Marist (the 2 poll results in this article) lean politically.
As the previous post to yours states . . .
ELECTORAL POLLS ! The American people spoke loud and clear on Nov. 2nd.
P.S. Better "check" your sources on "same-sex" marriage. Your "O" for 2 so far.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseUm...
We took a poll last November.
The ONLY one that REALLY matters.
I understand the losing side of that poll may want to attempt to alter it's meaning, but the winners don't.
Those that we selected in 2010 need to believe those results. The next poll that matters will be in November of 2012. Believe us - we would not change our minds BEFORE you have done anything we sent you to DC to do.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseTHAT would be the LOSERS trying to protect THEIR agenda
Even "repeal and replace" can be a misleading question - some portion of the public wants it replaced with single-payer universal care a la Britain's NHS.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI am interested in the opinions of liberals like ganymede, who is quite civil and reasonable. I fear hughman has his facts wrong on gay marriage, which seems to get voted down whenever the public gets to vote on it -- I apologize, I have no links to the data behind this so I may be remembering incorrectly.
Ganymede, before Obamacare, most Americans were pretty happy with the healthcare system here, just like the Europeans are. The Europeans have centuries of being accustomed to monarchs and other forms of big government. Our history is more about depending on ourselves to take care of ourselves, and to try to help others when we can. Financially, the whole world is having difficulties, but the money for the European social safety net comes at the expense of their defense budgets, among other things. With the USA willing to fight to keep them free, they can afford this budgeting decision. If we also gut our defense budget to pay for universal healthcare, who will defend us? There will always be people who are willing to harm us, and some of them will get into positions of power. We can see this at the state and federal level of our own government. It will happen in other nations as well. We must have a strong defense, though we could cut back some elements of it to save money. Universal healthcare is less important than maintaining our national sovereignty. Our military fights for that and is wounded or dies for that. If we as individuals cannot get all the healthcare of our dreams, that is far less of a sacrifice.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI do believe the Right and the Left care about doing what is the best for this country. They just have different ways of going about it.
I believe most "public opinion" polls have consistently shown that most Americans believe marriage should be defined as a union between a man and woman. Which is proven by again and again by voters outright voting it down or by overruling any judicial legislating of Gay Marriage.
The DADT issue stems from the Right believing that the military should be able to decide what policies it needs to best serve its functions, not the flightly whims of special interest groups.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHow can the pollsters maintain that these polls are statistically significant if the demographics don't match the US population at large on breakdown of Republicans and Democrats? It is obvious these are hack job polls, but is there anyone left on the left that is intellectually honest?
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