Political Irony

Further evidence that the fight over health care reform is more of a referendum on Obama, and not really about health care. CNBC did another poll asking people for their opinion of health care reform, but they did something interesting. “In CNBC’s third-quarter All-America Economic Survey, we asked half of the 812 poll respondents if they support Obamacare and the other half if they support the Affordable Care Act.”

And here is where it gets ironic. 46% of the respondents oppose Obamacare, while 37% oppose the ACA. Even though they are exactly the same thing. Likewise, 26% support Obamacare, but only 22% support the ACA.

Why?

Gender and partisanship are responsible for the differences. Men, independents and Republicans are more negative on Obamacare than ACA. Young people, Democrats, nonwhites and women are more positive on Obamacare.

Another factor is that 30% don’t even know what the ACA is, while fewer people — only 12% — say they don’t know about Obamacare.

Polls done in the past show that when asked about the separate provisions of the ACA, people are more supportive than if they are asked about the reform bill itself.

It seems like many people have no clue about health care reform, they are just expressing their opinion about Obama (both positive and negative). Even so, recent polls show that Americans are opposed to defunding Obamacare/ACA, especially if it means shutting down the government. According to one Republican pollster, Americans seem to be saying (whether they support it or not) “It’s the law of the land. Let’s give it a try.”