| Date | Favor | Oppose |
| May 22-23 | 63% | 32% |
| May 14-15 | 56% | 39% |
| May 10 | 56% | 37% |
| Apr 30-May 1 | 54% | 39% |
| Apr 24-25 | 58% | 38% |
| Apr 16-17 | 56% | 41% |
| Apr 10-11 | 58% | 38% |
| Apr 2-3 | 54% | 42% |
| Mar 27-28 | 54% | 42% |
| Mar 23-24 | 55% | 42% |
Obamacare is not growing more popular with time. In fact, Rasumssen–which is one of the most accurate of these measurements around, based on election results–finds that now 63 percent want repeal. From the poll:
Support for repeal of the new national health care plan has jumped to its highest level ever. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 63% of U.S. voters now favor repeal of the plan passed by congressional Democrats and signed into law by President Obama in March. Prior to today, weekly polling had shown support for repeal ranging from 54% to 58%. Currently, just 32% oppose repeal.
Why the refusal to sigh in resignation, and just go along? I think it is Greece. In the riots and the potential collapse of the Euro–beyond our scope here, I know–we see what happens when a society goes broke in a context in which large percentages feel entitled to government largess. That isn’t the American way–or at least, hasn’t been. Perhaps Obamacare has come to symbolize what people take to be a wrong direction.
May 24th, 2010 | 10:46 am
Well, most of the provisions don’t kick in until 2014, so there’s still a major fear of the unknown going on here. This poll may reflect nothing more than a combination of buyers’ regret and panic stirred up by the Health Reform Hysterics. The unfortunate part of a slow phase-in is that we won’t see visible results for a while, giving the right wing plenty of time to keep sowing doubts.
Also, this poll still doesn’t ask WHY people oppose the current plan. How many oppose it because it doesn’t go far enough? How many oppose anything that isn’t single-payer?
May 24th, 2010 | 1:19 pm
[...] have the benefit of having legitimacy. (Want to see the opposite in action? Look at how strongly ObamaCare is being rejected after being shoved down our throats by an authoritarian majority.) Your wise, oligarchic leadership [...]
May 24th, 2010 | 2:09 pm
Like any Ponzi Scheme, even Obama’s must come to an end. In Greece, at least we get a preview of what may lie ahead. More than a few people are coming to grips with reality and figured out that Obama has ALREADY increased the Deficit by 3 times what Bush did in 2 full terms! And since they have been ineffective in silencing the informed critics from within (such as the Actuary that projected that Obamacare would INCREASE costs 3% over what doing NOTHING would have cost) their spin looses a lot of its effect.
The truth is coming out too quick for them to cut off. Pelosi, Reid and Obama are rat finks with an agenda that does not consider what we need as much as the power they hope to gain by enslaving us all in their “Velvet Trap”!
May 24th, 2010 | 2:30 pm
@padrig: Certainly some of them *could* be that particular type of opposition. (which is stupid, if you ask me) This is talking about REPEAL of even what little has been done towards completely socializing medicine. Single-payer dies for another generation if Obamacare dies, and people like you know that. Don’t try and kid me that you don’t.
So of the 55% who think that it will reduce the quality of healthcare and the 55% who think it will raise costs, even if they are both 100% the same people, are more than 50% of Americans that want it repealed for its own negaitive reasons that likely do NOT include support of Universal Healthcare. Some of them may think that Universal Healthcare would cost less, but most of them also buy into the idea that Obamacare will cost less. (there are CNN and Gallup polls to confirm that — no need to go to Rasumussen, which you would love to dismiss I am pretty confident, but is the most accurate game out there right now)
So even if 13% wanted to repeal Obamacare because in some really bad pipe dream they think that will make Universal Healthcare more likely to be passed, that STILL leaves 55% of Americans wanting to kill the Pelosi/Obama Love Child for reasons you are unlikely to agree to!
May 24th, 2010 | 3:55 pm
Clearbrook, I have no idea how many oppose Obamacare because it doesn’t go far enough; I’d just like to see the question asked. It seems obvious to me, so why doesn’t Rasmussen ask it?
Maybe you’re suggesting the answer to that question when you suggest I’d like to dismiss Rasmussen? You seem to favor them. Is that because they give you truer results, or results that more closely match your preconceptions?
Anyway, you’re making the same mistake many others make, which is confusing a poll with a referendum. A poll just shows the opinion of a sampling of people at a given time, and that opinion can change almost instantaneously. If we ran the country by polls, Bush would have been thrown out right after Katrina, we wouldn’t have troops in Iraq, and 75% of Congress would be out of office.
May 25th, 2010 | 12:00 am
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May 25th, 2010 | 1:36 am
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May 25th, 2010 | 8:59 am
Oh, wow; a POLL! You keep forgetting that we’re not a democracy (we’re a republic) and that we delegate the authority to Congress to make these kinds of decisions for us. In Wesley World, of course, it supposedly matters what people say the public “thinks,” which is to say that tomorrow they might run a poll, decide that nobody really likes paying income tax, and encourage all of us to stop paying it. Fortunately government tries to do what’s necessary, and not always “what the public wants.” Obamacare is like spinach: you may not like it, but it’s good for you, so eat it and get your vitamins.
May 25th, 2010 | 10:41 am
If I had to guess at the reasons for the unpopular poll numbers, I’d say that the big one would be cost. Obamacare was passed on the preposterous notion that it would be “deficit-neutral”, complete with a gamed CBO report. Now more complete and realistic analysis is revealing that the plan will cost an awful lot. With people’s minds focused on the vast federal deficit and the example of Greece going over the falls, they are paying more attention to the projected costs of this new entitlement.
Number two would probably be disillusionment with the substance of the reform. I think a lot of people thought that Uncle Sam would buy everyone health care and/or provide it directly. When they found out that the bill cartelizes health care, complete with a legal requirement to buy private insurance, they are miffed. This may include single-payor advocates and supporters of a public option, but who knows.
Regardless, the current bill is a mess. After the 2010 elections we may well see a congress with a mandate to repeal the current bill and start over.
May 25th, 2010 | 6:45 pm
In late September of 2009 (I would say between the 20th and 29th, with some fish picture), Smith claimed that he does not pay a lot of attention to the polls, nor trust some of them.
He sure does seem to reference a number of polls these days on various issues.
May 26th, 2010 | 8:33 am
Padraig, can I raise a gently personal but off-topic question? In reply to another WJS post a few months back (where comments have been long closed), you wrote the following:
“[W]e do grant rights to those groups [i.e., the 'differently abled,' to use a common euphemism] commensurate with their ability to participate in society…. At less extreme ends of the spectrum we make adjustments; for instance, my Down Syndrome sibling has basic human rights and protections, but she cannot vote, get a driver’s license, or enter into a legal contract among other things.”
[ Source: http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/secondhandsmoke/2009/12/30/robots-will-never-be-people-and-should-never-have-rights/ ]
Your sister may not be able to qualify for a driver’s license, although that is presumably not because she has Down syndrome but because she cannot pass the required tests. I don’t see how that has anything to do with, as you wrote at the time, “granting rights to those *groups* commensurate with their ability to participate in society.” There are people with Down syndrome who have driver’s licenses; it is a decision based on individual capacity, not group membership.
The same applies to questions of contract competency. To the best of my knowledge, there are no laws saying that individuals with Down syndrome cannot engage in contracts, and when it is attempted, decisions are made on a case-by-case basis.
And finally, your remark that is most puzzling to me: you say that your sister “cannot vote.” At least in the United States, anyone who is a citizen and not a felon can legally vote. She may not want to vote, or her family or caretakers may not allow her to vote, but she is legally enfranchised — and many people with Down syndrome do indeed vote.
Or do I misunderstand?
May 26th, 2010 | 2:03 pm
Abner, you are correct in that my sister does not automatically lose those rights simply for having Down’s Syndrome. We’ve been through a great many tests, hearings, etc. to determine just exactly what her legal competency level is, and what tasks she can perform for herself, and which she cannot. For instance, most of her finances are controlled by others, but with her input. Driving’s pretty much out of the question (although she does bike).
And you are correct, I believe she could legally vote. For better or worse there is no competency standard for voting.
The overall point was that our system of rights is not “one size fits all.” The set of rights we enjoy in our society changes over our life span, generally in parallel with society’s expectations of our participation. And, those rights can be reduced or removed if we do not participate (get those tax forms in!) or if we violate others’ rights through criminal acts.
Wes, sorry for the interruption. Feel free to jerk this thread back on topic.
June 2nd, 2010 | 3:46 am
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June 2nd, 2010 | 9:16 am
[...] Secondhand Smoke. Category: Health News | | No Comments » « Ask the Internet: Favorite Processed [...]
June 10th, 2010 | 3:48 pm
You conveniently leave out the fact that of the people who oppose Obamacare a large number are opposing it because they want single payer, a public option, or Medicare for all.
Asking a simple yes/no on whether a person supports Obamacare does not mean that they think Obamacare goes too far. For many, it doesn’t go far enough, and that’s why they oppose it.
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