Dem Pollster: Health Care Bill “A Disaster for the Party”
More news over the past several days about the political headache the unpopular health care law has become for Democrats:
- Democrat pollster Doug Schoen has an op-ed in Politico where he outlines the impact of the health care “disaster” on his party: “There may well be no single initiative as unpopular as the Administration’s health care reform bill,” which “has created big problems for both President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party.” And while the Administration keeps claiming the problem with the legislation lies in the White House’s poor messaging, on the substance, “there remain substantial doubts that the Administration’s health care reform measure is what the people wanted.”
- A Wall Street Journal blog posting by Quinnipiac University pollster Doug Brown analyzing recent polling data calls the health law “a political loser in most of the country….At this point, the White House predictions that the law would be a boon for Democrats in the voting booth come November looks [sic] to be more rhetoric than reality.”
- The NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll notes that only 39% of Americans believe the President has “lived up to expectations” when it comes to health care; 55% believe he has “fallen short” of his rhetoric.
- Likewise, Gallup’s new survey out today shows the President’s approval rating on health care at only 40%, with 57% disapproval (a -17 point margin).
Speaker Pelosi famously claimed that “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.” But more than four months after the legislation was enacted into law, the health care overhaul remains as unpopular as ever. When will the majority admit that their government takeover of health care is the furthest thing from the “reform” most Americans wanted?