Ohioans may have overwhelmingly rejected Gov. John Kasich’s reforms to curb the power of government unions in tonight’s vote, but they’re also sending the message that they hate the individual mandate in President Obama’s national health care law even more.
With 33.49 percent of precincts currently reporting, Ohioans are voting in favor of a measure to preserve health care freedom by a nearly two to one margin, 917,875 to 478,502. By comparison, they are voting to repeal Kasich’s measure 896,625 to 542,314.
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While the health care vote is symbolic, it does show how the mandate is unpopular even among an electorate that came out to support unions. As Georgetown Law professor Randy Barnett has argued, the U.S. Supreme Court is not entirely immune to considering popular opinion. Though it tends to err on the side of upholding laws passed by Congress, the reason it does so is that legislative acts are seen to represent the will of the people. The more data that’s out there reaffirming how unpopular the mandate is, the more comfortable justices may be in overturning it.
