Public Supports Obama Health Care Reform

[palemale]

The first, post-HCR poll is out, and American public supports it 49%-40%. http://www.gallup.com/poll/126929/Slim-Margin-Americans-Support-Healthcare-Bill-Passage.aspx

Republicans thought health care would be Obama's Waterloo. Turns out David Frum was correct. It looks like it will be the Republican's Waterloo.

Also, a majority approves of Obama's job performance. http://www.gallup.com/home.aspx

 

[NickCole]

The first, post-HCR poll is out, and American public supports it 49%-40%. http://www.gallup.com/poll/126929/Slim-Margin-Americans-Support-Healthcare-Bill-Passage.aspx

Republicans thought health care would be Obama's Waterloo. Turns out David Frum was correct. It looks like it will be the Republican's Waterloo.

Wow, you make this judgment the day Obama signs the Senate bill, before the House reconciliation has even passed the Senate and been signed by the President, nevermind the programs actually initiated so the people can judge it. "It" being the efficacy of the legislation itself.

How not surprising. Why wait to see if effective health care reform has actually been achieved. Success or failure of the actual programs isn't the thing. Just cheer that words got on paper and paperwork got signed -- well, actually, half the paperwork.

 

[hotatlboi]

Wow, you make this judgment the day Obama signs the Senate bill

It's not surprising really. Now that the GOP FUD machine has failed and health care reform is a reality, people will start getting more accurate information on what it all means. A majority has supported it all along when they were given accurate information.

 

[JB3]

The first, post-HCR poll is out, and American public supports it 49%-40%. http://www.gallup.com/poll/126929/Slim-Margin-Americans-Support-Healthcare-Bill-Passage.aspx

Republicans thought health care would be Obama's Waterloo. Turns out David Frum was correct. It looks like it will be the Republican's Waterloo.

Also, a majority approves of Obama's job performance. http://www.gallup.com/home.aspx

How about no? Did you even bother to read the poll? Independents are split right down the middle. In case you hadn't noticed, those folks have been abandoning Obama and the democrats at a record rate.

If you honestly think this in any way indicates that this will be republican's 'waterloo', then you have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.

 

[MystikWizard]

It's not surprising really. Now that the GOP FUD machine has failed and health care reform is a reality, people will start getting more accurate information on what it all means. A majority has supported it all along when they were given accurate information.

Precisely. Once more accurate information flows and the scare tactics die down since the bill is now signed into law .... then I think more and more of the public will come around.

The only people that in reality should be throwing a fit is the greedy wealthy types who are now upset they will either have to provide coverage for their employees or opt to pay a fine. The rest of the country, it will either only benefit or people will feel no change at all if they are generally healthy.

I don't think this is going to come back and bite the Dems in a huge way as Conservative talking heads seem to predict. But it could very well come back and bite Republicans in the ass pretty big if this proves to be a success, and I think it will be.

But it is good news hearing that a majority of the country is happy that this has passed. And since there are more Democrats in the country than Republicans, yes the polling would indicate that it is, in fact, a majority.

My concern however, is that Dems will become complacent and not get to the polls this year, when it comes time to vote. The Right is going to be very motivated to go out, but I question whether the Left will. They have to at some point understand that if they want to maintain control, they absolutely must vote in the State elections and not just vote when it comes time to elect the next President of the United States.

 

[JB3]

Precisely. Once more accurate information flows and the scare tactics die down since the bill is now signed into law .... then I think more and more of the public will come around.

The only people that in reality should be throwing a fit is the greedy wealthy types who are now upset they will either have to provide coverage for their employees or opt to pay a fine. The rest of the country, it will either only benefit or people will feel no change at all if they are generally healthy.

I don't think this is going to come back and bite the Dems in a huge way as Conservative talking heads seem to predict. But it could very well come back and bite Republicans in the ass pretty big if this proves to be a success, and I think it will be.

Here's the problem for democrats; few of the major provisions will take effect before 2010, or even 2012. The bulk of the ones that will are related to insurance reform, which is something that republicans supported. So while they can trumpet the 'success' of the health bill, they won't be able to point to anything except those few reforms that republicans supported as well.

But it is good news hearing that a majority of the country is happy that this has passed. And since there are more Democrats in the country than Republicans, yes the polling would indicate that it is, in fact, a majority.

And there are more independents than both, and they are split down the middle. And as I told Hotalboi, 11% in that poll are undecided, which doesn't exactly mean the numbers tell the whole picture.

 

[MystikWizard]

Here's the problem for democrats; few of the major provisions will take effect before 2010, or even 2012. The bulk of the ones that will are related to insurance reform, which is something that republicans supported. So while they can trumpet the 'success' of the health bill, they won't be able to point to anything except those few reforms that republicans supported as well.

And there are more independents than both, and they are split down the middle. And as I told Hotalboi, 11% in that poll are undecided, which doesn't exactly mean the numbers tell the whole picture.

Independents are SPLIT down the middle ... but at the same time, there are a lot more Democrats at the moment than there are Republicans. So yes, it reasons to stand that chances are far greater that the majority of the country is happier with the Bill than not.

And as time goes by, support is more likely to increase for the bill than not, after the truth comes out regarding the distortions made about the bill from your side of the fence.

Oh, and Republicans will not be getting the credit for anything they had to contribute to this bill, whatsoever. Republican voters despise anything and everything having to do with this bill, so obviously they can forget taking credit for anything since their constituents won't want to hear that they had a thing to do with this bill.

Quit playing Partisan Politics. This whole "Cheer on your home team" is getting rather tiresome with you. Your posts indicate that you treat this whole thing like some fucking game.

 

[palemale]

Polls tell us little more than what people are thinking at the time the poll is taken, although taken together over time, polls also can reveal how opinion changes. There's no guarantee that the public will think health care reform is a success in the long run. Indeed, the success or failure of health care reform will be gradual. If, over time, Congress continues to pass legislation that improves it, such as adding a public option, removing health insurers anti-trust waiver, etc, it may prove to be very successful and popular. In my view, it will be a success if health insurers' profits become so negligible that they stop writing health insurance entirely and the government enacts a single payer, medicare for all program.

I suspect the instant bump has a lot to do with the public's relief that something has been enacted and that they perceive that the Obama administration can accomplish some of its legislative goals. I also agree with hotatlboi that the focus will now be on what is actually in the bill, as opposed to the completely corrupt and dysfunctional process that got us there. While the legislation does not go far enough, it still contains good and important reforms that will be popular for the public and impossible for the Republicans to repeal.