A new USA Today/Pew poll on Obamacare is out today. According to the fine print on the poll, “Three years after President Obama signed his signature health care overhaul, Americans are as negative toward it as they have ever been, and disapproval of the president on the issue has reached a new high.”
What inferences can we draw from this poll result? Well, here’s the first paragraph of USA Today’s write-up on the poll:
Later in the article, the debate over Obamacare is framed this way:
When Obama signed the law more than three years ago, supporters predicted Americans would embrace it as some of the most popular provisions went into effect, including measures that have helped seniors pay prescription costs, protected children who have serious medical conditions and enabled young adults to stay on their parents’ insurance plans until age 26.
But that turnaround in public opinion hasn’t happened, at least not yet.
It’s more than a little odd that the article doesn’t acknowledge that the law was deeply unpopular before it was passed, and Democrats insisted on passing it anyway. Supporters may have predicted it would become popular, but there was scant evidence that it would later be embraced following the initial public opposition. It is quite a stretch to to suggest Republican attempts to repeal the bill—which are broadly reflective of the public’s sustained dislike of the legislation—are making it difficult for the law to succeed.
It is tiring to complain about media bias, but it remains omnipresent and obvious.
