Losers.
On Tuesday, I
pointed out some good news in the otherwise depressing
Washington Post/ABC News poll: Obamacare approval/disapproval had reverted back to pre-rollout debacle numbers. Greg Sargent
added to that the point that those current poll numbers (46 approve, 49 disapprove) have been consistent for the past three years. The nation is roughly evenly divided in its opinion on the law, and has been since it passed. Three years of concerted Republican efforts to convince the public the law is the worst thing that's ever happened to America has failed to move that needle.
Furthermore, while WaPo/ABC doesn't track one key question—do you support or oppose repeal—it has a somewhat similar one about who the public trusts on health care. The numbers there are actually pretty darned good for Democrats.
But when you ask people whether they would rather see Obama or the GOP in charge of [the law's] implementation, 42 percent pick Obama, while 37 percent pick Republicans. That’s actually the biggest advantage Obama has had on that question since 2010—marginally bigger than the narrow three-point difference for Obama in September, before the botched rollout.
The gap between the percentage of people who approve of Obama’s implementation efforts so far (34 percent) and those who want him to continue being in charge of its implementation (42 percent) is striking.
That's a similar question to repeal: is the law so bad that you think Republicans should get their way on it? Resoundingly, in poll after poll, the public says "hell, no."
HealthCare.gov is working, and come January 1, people are going to see either real benefit or they're going to see that the only difference it's making in their lives is a good one. They're getting all their preventive care without having to pay additional costs out-of-pocket. They're getting their prescription birth control without paying out-of-pocket. Family members on Medicare aren't spending as much on prescriptions. When all these benefits really start to sink in, and when the sky doesn't fall because Obamacare is finally fully implemented, it ceases to be a weapon for Republicans (which they know, and which is why they've fought so hard to stop it from being implemented).
That's not to say Obamacare can't be a political weapon. But it needs to be the Democrats' weapon, and in 2014 it needs to be targeted at those Republican governors and legislators that are denying health care to so many of their people by not expanding Medicaid.