Perhaps one of the reasons the Obama campaign doesn't seem too concerned about the "Romney and Ryan are the true defenders of Medicare" meme the Republicans have been pushing of late is numbers like these found in the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll of registered voters conducted August 16-20:
Now, thinking some more about this proposed change to Medicare…
Q35 Which of the following statements do you agree with more? (ROTATE)
Mitt Romney who says this proposal is a good idea because it would strengthen Medicare and reduce
government costs for Medicare by giving future seniors more control over their own health care dollars and a
choice between traditional Medicare and a variety of private plans.
…or…
Barack Obama who says this proposal is a bad idea because it would end Medicare as we know it by
turning it into a voucher system giving seniors a set amount of money to pay for their health care costs and
leaving them to personally cover costs above this amount.
Mitt Romney .................................................... 34
Barack Obama ................................................. 50
Mixed/Some of both (VOL) ............................ 2
Neither (VOL) ............................................... 5
Not sure ......................................................... 9
+ Results shown reflect responses among registered voters.
Apparently, the Republicans' sudden embrace of socialized medicine isn't working as well as they might have hoped.