Considering the size and scope of the massive health care reform measure that Democrats pushed through Congress last year in defiance of all political odds, their celebration of the law’s first anniversary Wednesday was remarkably subdued.
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That’s because congressional Democrats are still smarting from the voter backlash that followed passage of the bill and that played a role in their loss of the House majority in last November’s elections.
Democrats on Wednesday were confronted with fresh evidence that the public, one year on, still largely opposes the new law and that that opposition could further damage Democrats politically.
A new CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Wednesday showed just 37 percent of Americans support the health care changes, while 59 percent oppose it. A similar poll conducted last year, just before the House passed it and sent it to President Obama for his signature, showed 39 percent supported the measure.
“The bill remains unpopular,” said veteran Democratic strategist Doug Schoen. “Was and still is a loser for Democrats. The voters have spoken, clearly and unequivocally.”
There was little fanfare among Democrats on Wednesday to mark the anniversary. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who just returned from an official trip to Italy, did not make a public appearance to talk about the law, although she held a news conference last week to mark the anniversary and tout its benefits and put out a news release Tuesday. She also put out numerous Twitter messages on the law’s benefits.
“We enacted legislation that extends health care coverage to 32 million more Americans and lowers health care costs, while creating jobs, strengthening the middle class and reducing the deficit,” she said in Tuesday’s statement.
A few House Democrats on Wednesday held news conferences to promote the law’s provisions now in place, such as one that allows adults up to age 26 to remain on their parents’ insurance policies.
They were peppered with questions about the law’s low poll numbers.
“I don’t think you can really go by the polls,” said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla. She added that the people who are now benefiting from the law are the ones whose opinion really matters, not those who were “happy with their health care coverage” to begin with, because “things don’t really affect them one way or the other.”
House and Senate Republicans offered a much different perspective, saying the new health care law hurt millions who already had insurance by raising the cost of coverage, killing jobs and increasing the deficit.
“Costs have not gone down, and people cannot keep the coverage that they have if they like it,” said House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va.
University of Virginia political science professor Larry Sabato said House and Senate Republicans will benefit politically by continuing to fight to repeal and defund the law. “Despite some of the more popular provisions going into law immediately, there’s been no positive effect on public opinion,” Sabato said.
