It might be time for President Obama and national Democrats to start really talking about
protecting Social Security and Medicare.
Gov. Mitt Romney holds a 47 - 41 percent lead over President Barack Obama in Florida, where 63 percent of voters say the president's support of same-sex marriage will not affect their vote, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. Another 25 - 11 percent of voters, including 23 - 9 percent among independent voters, say Obama's support of gay marriage makes them less likely to support his candidacy.[...]
"Gov. Mitt Romney has slipped into the lead in Florida and that standing is confirmed by his much better numbers than the president when voters are asked whether they view the candidates favorably or unfavorably. They view Romney favorably 44 - 35 percent, while Obama gets a negative 45 - 50 percent favorability," said Peter A. Brown, assistant vice president of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
In 2010, Republicans did some serious damage with their attacks on the Affordable Care Act and the supposed cuts to Medicare included. Seniors were scared, Republicans won the House. And they'll use it again, you can be sure of that. But that was before two budgets from Rep. Paul Ryan that end Medicare as we know it, and before this all-out campaign to cut everything to keep taxes on the rich low.
Everything, you'll note, but Social Security. There's a reason Ryan kept Social Security out of his budget and Mitt Romney leaves it out of his otherwise draconian domestic spending cuts. They know how popular the program is, and are avoiding talking about it. But there's little doubt they'll go gunning for it if they win both chambers of Congress and the White House.
Florida is 29 electoral votes there for the taking. The math says if President Obama wins Florida again, he wins reelection. It's time for some Mediscare from the Obama campaign, and for Congressional Democrats to turn up the heat on protecting these key programs.