Two weeks ago Fox News reported that in a series of swing state polls, President Obama had a statistically significant advantage over potential Republican opponents. Today, hope and change: :
The poll shows Obama trailing two leading Republican rivals in 12 states that will likely decide the outcome of a tight race in November:
•Former senator of Pennsylvania Rick Santorum Outperforms Obama 50%-45% in swing states. Nationally, Santorum’s advantage decreases to 49%-46%.
•Former Governor of Massachusetts In swing states, Mitt Romney outperforms Obama by 48-46%.. There are 47% of them throughout the country.
Battleground states surveyed include Michigan – where Tuesday’s primary election became a critical contest between Romney and Santorum – as well as Ohio and Virginia, which vote next week on Super Tuesday. The other swing states are Colorado, Iowa, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
What is the main reason for the president’s unpopularity? His signature “achievement”, Of course:
Health care reform, which President Obama had envisioned as the signature achievement of his first term, instead became a major issue in his bid for a second term, uniting Republicans in opposition and undermining his standing among independents. In a USA TODAY/Gallup poll of more than a dozen battleground states in the country: the extensive majority of registered voters think the bill’s passage is a “bad thing” and support repealing it if a Republican wins the White House in November. Two years after the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was signed into law — and as the Supreme Court prepares to hear arguments on its constitutionality next month — the president failed to convince the majority of Americans that he did the right thingWhile the bill has staunch supporters, especially among Democrats and the president’s supporters, the measure’s ultimate effect among voters is negative. Moreover, the issue unites the GOP when the party is divided between competing presidential candidates.
Ed Morrissey reminds us that the bill was intentionally front-loaded with poll-tested benefits (allowing “children” to remain on their parents’ plan until age 26) in an attempt to boost the bill’s early popularity. What will these numbers look like in 2013 and 2014, when a lot of Obamacare unattractive elements (insurance obligations, middle class tax increasessteep subsidies, etc.) began – conveniently after Obama’s re-election campaign? Just last week we discovered another unhappy one surprise buried in law:
Treatment costs for people enrolled in Health care law’s high-risk insurance pools are expected to more than double their initial projectionsthe Obama administration said Thursday in a report on the novel program. The Health Care Act allocated $5 billion for a pre-existing condition insurance plan designed to provide health insurance to people denied coverage by private carriers. Since its launch last summer, nearly 50,000 Americans have participated in the program. Medical costs for people who have signed up to the program are expected to be much higher than the government initially anticipated. In 2012, medical costs for each participant are expected to average $28,994. according to the report, more than double what actuaries hired by the government had predicted in November 2010. Then analysts expected the program to cost $13,026 per person.
Go, think. Different – intentional? – Obamacare accounting error. When the 2014 law imposes “guaranteed issue” (no coverage denial) and “community rating” (price controls) regulations on insurance companies, there is a very good chance that contributions will enhance even more than we saw after crossing. $2.5 trillion and countingGuys. Good times. I’ll leave you with the following clip, which is a parody of the movie trailer ArtistWhich took home Best Picture honors during last night’s Oscars. It’s a little campy and doesn’t shy away from budget-friendly shots – shots of nose punches and headshots come to mind – but it’s still relatively entertaining and up-to-date:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOpwCQsMbCE
As I wrote last week, we are forever away from a political election, and polls will be everywhere between now and November. But let’s get rid of the idea that Obama is unbeatable and that neither GOP candidate has what it takes to replace him. As conservatives remain divided in a contested primary, some have boosted Obama illusory AND flying economic news – although it is still losing at this point.
UPDATE – By Gallup: :
