Republicans are talking big about running in 2018 on how they repealed the individual mandate in the Affordable Care Act, the only significant repeal of the law they've been running against for eight years they've managed to achieve.
"Republicans around the country are talking about the fact that we made Obamacare voluntary," says Sen. Cory Gardner, chairman of the National Republican Senate Committee. Or maybe not.
Anti-Obamacare ad spending in the 2018 election cycle has plummeted compared to the same period in the previous three cycles, according to data compiled by Kantar Media/CMAG for HuffPost. [...]
"What are they going to say on it?" admitted a Republican strategist who requested anonymity to speak openly and previously worked at the National Republican Congressional Committee. "We'll repeal Obamacare? I mean, what are they going to say that's believable?" […]
"One of the ironies of the Republican attack on the Affordable Care Act is it's made it more popular in voters' eyes, especially as voters have a chance to compare the Affordable Care Act to the Republican alternatives," Garin said.
That's true pretty much across the board with polling since the Republicans and Trump started their sabotage efforts in earnest. Voters consistently list health care as their top concern, and it's been a factor in election wins for Democrats since Trump took office. It's motivating candidates, motivating the resistance, and even motivating a new generation of campaign workers.
After eight years of Republican attacks, we're finally going to see this turn around. Democrats are going to run and win on protecting our health care, and Republicans are only going to be running away from it.