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.
I think a lot of this could have been avoided, mostly by allowing the bill to be read, understood and tweaked, prior to voting.
We’ll see.
2 comments:
This is Rasmussen, so it’s rather suspect. They’ve been the outlier’s outlier for the last two years.
Also, your complaint is a little spurious: “allowing the bill to be read”? Huh? I *did* read the bill, and most of its variants, prior to its passage. (Granted, I didn’t read the whole thing, but I’m an amateur policy wonk, not a pro) It was freely available online up until the final hour. Sure, some very minor changes were made in the last couple of days, but the broad outlines did not change.
When pollsters explain the actual provisions of the HCR law, the repeal numbers are much lower – balanced between “repeal” and “keep” about 40-40. I think this primarily reflects low information levels in the general public and high partisan polarization.
Cheers,
SF
Phoo.
Rasmussen is on the outs with this administration, so they’re “Outliers”. Facts, please.
Also, there’s no way you read the bill, as it was being changed up until the hour they passed it. You remember, let’s pass it to find out what’s in it.
People understand the raw exercise of raw power, and dislike it. Obamacare is just that.
Dude, I spent HOURS going through fricking huge PDFs of the various bills under consideration. They were all available on line right up until the final votes. Yes, it’s true that there were some last minute changes especially in the reconciliation side-car, which was genuinely in flux until the end. But the broad outlines of the policies — the exchanges, the subsidies, the mandate, the insurance reforms — they were fully public and debated all through the process and did not change between December and April. And the changes in the side-car were pretty public and did not change dramatically between Obama’s photo-op summit and the final vote. So it’s just false to imply that we had to pass it to find out what was in it. I don’t blame folks who didn’t care to read a big and complex bill, but there were lots and lots of policy wonks who did and who reported the contents extensively. It’s the media’s fault that they focused on the horse-race exclusively and waited until after the bill passed to report on the content.
As for Rasmussen, of course they’re a GOP polling firm, but it’s not a question of whether the White House likes them, it’s a question of whether they’re accurate. It’a not in the Dem’s interest to shoot the messenger; if Rasmussen polls are good, the dems need to know that the lay of the land is (cause it’s worse than widely expected). Now the Rasmussen House Effect has been well documented in multiple sources. Whether it’s a bias or whether he’s just a more accurate pollster than, well, everybody else, I don’t pretend to know. But it’s not a wild or baseless smear to point out that this cycle at least Rasmussen’s results are divergent from the rest of the polling world’s.
Hmm. Last link broken. Try this one.
Multiple left sources had said they’re biased, I agree. I’d like to see somebody without an ideological viewpoint see where they were when it matters, on election day.
Well, like this, for instance: Rasmussen was Dead On in the 2008 Presidential election.
Or this one, from ElectoralMap.net (also showing Rasmussen tied for most accurate).
That’d be kinda odd for a “GOP Polling firm”, now wouldn’t it?
Rasmussen generally polls likely voters (as opposed to random adults) which tends to make their numbers lean more to the right. This is more accurate when it comes to elections or election-related issues, whether it is accurate in determining national sentiment is a matter for debate.
Yup. Which is why I specified that “this cycle” Rass has a house effect, in contrast to previous election cycles when their results were pretty accurate.
Interestingly the same effect is evident for Survey USA, in the opposite direction. A formerly accurate pollster this year with a five point democrat house effect.
I suspect that the vast majority of people polled on the issue still don’t know what’s in the bill and are merely reacting to the latest news story, blog post, campaign soundbite, or conversation they’ve come across.