For the past month, assorted Democrats have regaled us with paeans to the greatness and glory of President Obama, based on the claim (with this bunch you never know if it is fact) that there were over 8 million sign-ups for ObamaCare.
No mention, of course, that far fewer of them were in the 18-34 year age bracket than were necessary to pay for everyone else. Or the fact that millions of sign-ups were people who only got ObamaCare because it caused the policies they already had to be cancelled. Or how many of them are being subsidized in part or in whole by taxpayers. The 8-million-plus number, in and of itself, is supposed to turn the tide and make Mr. Obama the beloved figure they need him to be going into the midterm elections.
With this in mind, here is the beginning of today\’s article by Dan Balz and Peyton M. Craighill about a just-released Washington Post-ABC News poll:
Democratsface serious obstacles as they look to the November elections, withPresident Obama\’s approval rating at a new low and a majority ofvoters saying they prefer a Congress in Republican hands to check thepresident\’s agenda, according to a new WashingtonPost-ABC News poll.
Obama\’sapproval rating fell to 41 percent, down from 46 percentthrough the first three months of the year and the lowest of hispresidency in Post-ABC News polls. Just 42 percent approve ofhis handling of the economy, 37 percent approve of how he ishandling the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and 34 percentapprove of his handling of the situation involving Ukraine andRussia.
Obama\’s low rating could be a significant drag on Democraticcandidates this fall – past elections suggest that when approvalratings are as low as Obama\’s, the president\’s party is almostcertain to suffer at the ballot box in November.
Does that look like voters are jumping to the side of Barack Obama and his fellow Democrats over ObamaCare? Or anything else?
Regarding ObamaCare specifically….
ThePost-ABC poll found that 44 percent say they support the lawwhile 48 percent say they oppose it, which is about where it wasat the end of last year and in January.
Democrats saw it as a possible leading indicatorof a shift in public opinion, but that has not materialized.
A58 percent majority say the new law is causing higher costs overall,and 47 percent say it will make the health-care system worse.While a majority say the quality of the health care they receive willremain the same, a plurality expect it to result in higher personalcosts for that care.
If those data are accurate, what we are seeing is that a large number of voters, albeit belatedly, are catching on. They are finally realizing what an unworkable monstrosity ObamaCare is. And all the ballyhooing about “8 million” that was supposed to turn public opinion around is not doing so.
Maybe this is happening because voters realize just how bogus the 8 million figure is. Or maybe it is just that, after all the lies Obama & Co. told us about ObamaCare, it doesn\’t matter what they say anymore.
Whatever the reason, if you were a Democrat would you be running on ObamaCare this year? Or, for that matter the economy? Or foreign policy?
And, unless you are in the safest of safe situations, would you want President Obama to come to your state and campaign for you?
Let me put it this way: if I were a Democrat running in a competitive district, I would personally offer to pay the greens fees for Barack Obama to go golfing every day from now until November.
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UPDATE: According to Scott Whitlock at newsbusters.org, this poll – this shockingly bad poll for Barack Obama and Democrats in general – generated all of 18 seconds\’ coverage on ABC\’s Good Morning America show this morning. Their own poll, and they barely reported it.
Incidentally, Scott also pointed out that the poll was heavily weighted in favor of Democrats…..with 11% more of them in the sample than Republicans (32% to 21%, with 38% independents and 9% other/no opinion). This means that, as bad as Mr. Obama\’s numbers are here, they are probably even worse.
There are many reasons I talk so much about media bias here. This is one of them.
