A fascinating new poll released by The Hill newspaper indicates that dislike of the administration’s health care legislation may be even deeper that was suspected, affecting even Democrats-1 in four of whom would like it repealed. The poll results are pretty astonishing:
President Obama predicted in the spring that the new law would become popular as people learned more about it. But the poll shows Republicans strongly oppose it, independents are wary of it and a surprising number of Democrats also want it overturned.
Republicans have vowed to repeal the law if they take control of Congress, and the findings of Mark Penn, who led Penn Schoen Berland’s polling team, show that healthcare is a major issue for voters this year.
When asked if they wanted the legislation repealed, 56 percent of voters in the surveyed districts said yes. “Only Democrats were opposed to repeal (23 percent to 64 percent),” Penn said. “Undecided voters wanted the healthcare law repealed by 49 percent to 27 percent.”
In each district, a majority of those surveyed said they want the controversial law gone.
An Independent Women’s Voice poll of independent voters showed an even stronger desire for repeal among this group. I guess the next worry is this: Will those elected on a promise to repeal and replace this massively unpopular-and just plain massive-piece of legislation have the stomach to do it?
It won’t be easy. The president is going to fight like a tiger to keep it. The voter needs to make it clear that, if legislators don’t keep their promises, we’ll have the power to fire them.