Who Do You Trust On Health Care?

[babylonsister]

http://www.tnr.com/blog/jonathan-chait/who-do-you-trust-health-care

Who Do You Trust On Health Care?
Jonathan Chait


I keep seeing conservatives say things like this:

{Obama} turned everything over to the ultraliberal Pooh-Bahs of Congress, who produced a bill (or rather two bills, one in the House the other in the Senate) the unpopularity of which has only grown with time. That Obama wanted everything wrapped up by last year’s August recess now seems a long-ago bad joke.

Today there is certainly still a call coming from the bottom up. Unfortunately for the Democrats, it’s an ever-rising groundswell of opposition to ObamaCare, one that threatens to become a political hurricane that could sweep the Democrats out of the majority in both houses of Congress and render the president politically impotent for the rest of his term.

... but then I see polls showing results like this:



If there's an upsurge of popular opposition to the health care plan because it's too big, then why do 49% of Americans trust Obama to do the right thing on health care, and just 32% trust Republicans in Congress? If people are so repelled by Obamacare and big government, then why do they overwhelmingly trust him on this issue compared to the Republicans?

The answer, again, is what I said this morning: a significant chunk of the people who oppose health care reform think it doesn't go far enough. They're cynical about the process. And, to be sure, passing a bill won't bring all of them on board. But it can bring some of them on board. The basic elements are there: sympathy for Obama, a lack of sympathy for Republicans, a desire for some kind of comprehensive reform, agreement with the elements of Obama's plan.

By the way, as I noted this morning, it's not true that "the unpopularity of has only grown with time," or that there's an "ever-rising groundswell of opposition to ObamaCare." In fact, public opinion has remained constant since November.

[GeorgeGist]

1. None of the above.

[babylonsister]

2. Oh, Georgie, you don't like anyone or anything. We get that!

Have a nice day! :fistbump: