Monday, March 31, 2014
Five Things Polling Tells Us About Obamacare
Since today is the final day to sign up for the Affordable Care Act without a penalty, I thought it would be interesting to post this article. The article discusses American's thoughts about Obamacare as a whole, and also how the controversy over the act may help Republicans in the upcoming 2014 election. The article states how Obamacare is still unpopular, yet many Americans still want to keep it rather than repeal it. Many statistics and polls were used to come to these conclusions but the ultimate question is this: will Obama's long struggle to pass the Affordable Care Act harm his party rather than help it?
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Although CNN presents a plethora of statistics on the Affordable Care Act's unpopularity, one thing is clear to me. Obamacare made an incredible comeback these past few months. The three subjects that interested me the most in the article were the fact that the public is tired of hearing about healthcare, the majority doesn't like it but doesn't want to repeal it, and that the Obamacare chatter is beneficial for the Republicans. This legislation's media coverage is already a broken record at this point. The public thinks so, at least. Constantly revisiting Obamacare up until next November could, I think at least, damage the Republicans for not moving forward.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty obviously liberal so I sort of hope that Republicans feel a backlash from the immature behavior they've been putting out recently. I also really hope that Americans realize the need for this kind of legislation...I really don't understand the opposition, when it literally allows poor people access to basic medicines that the upper and middle classes take for granted. I'm also really tired of hearing about it.
ReplyDeleteI don't follow this issue at all, but the first thing that surprised me was the high percentage of American's that disapprove of the Affordable Care Act. Because it was approved, I guess I just thought it was supported by a lot of people in this country. I definitely agree with the 53% of people that are tired of hearing about the Affordable Care Act, in that I'm tired of hearing about it.
ReplyDeleteA lot of what was in this article has stayed the same and is what we've been hearing about for the past few months. The fact that Obamacare is overall more unpopular and is helping the GOP because of this are two of these examples. What surprised me, however, is how it is stated that most specific parts of the act are popular. It's kind of confusing to think about how this came to be, but it also made me happy that more people want to keep it rather than get rid of it. It's good that people are willing to make it work, and a lot of this probably has to do with the increased fatigue about the issue.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with the last poll. I have Health care fatigue. Sometimes I dread this blog, because I know that I will just have to write about my views on Obamacare. More like ObamaIdontcareanymore. I really am so done hearing about it. The article points out that sign ups will be closing, and I would interested in seeing how it is actually implemented. I just don't want to hear about any more repeals. I still don't think that most people have a great idea about what Obamacare entails, and I think that many people may have different views when they figure it out.
ReplyDeleteLike the Americans questioned for theses polls, I am sick of hearing about Obamacare. I think republicans need to move on to more relevant issues. I think the possible window for republicans to repeal Obamacare is long past and sooner or later republicans will begin to lose supporters because all they ever talk about is this healthcare law. Like Casey, I also find it confusing that many individual parts of Obamacare are popular but the bill as a whole is not. I think that just shows the confusion among Americans that has been created due to too much discussion of the bill.
ReplyDeleteI agree with many points that the articles makes especially the last one about "Healthcare Fatigue" (Michaela describes it perfectly), but it also sparks my interest in how the opposition in the healthcare debate can gain from its unpopularity while many key sections of the law has a lot of support. With the deadline just recently passing with a higher than expected applicants on the website crushing many of the sobering predictions by "news" channels, namely the Fox News Channel. The Democrats can use this to their advantage in order to gain much more support so that the Republicans can not gain control over the Senate next election cycle.
ReplyDeleteI think Christina brings up a good point: people are tired of this news. I think people have made up their minds about which side of this issue they stand on, and don't really care how others feel about it. Michaela seems to feel very strongly about this. I think it's great that more people than they were expecting signed up by the deadline, and I'm hoping that now that the deadline has passed, we won't be hearing about Obamacare or healthcare reform for at least another year.
ReplyDeleteThis polling seems to support what many other articles that have been posted on the blog are saying. While many Americans don't like parts of Obamacare, ultimately it is hear to stay and they don't want to continue hearing about it. I think that if Republicans continue to complain about this issue without trying to give any solutions to fix it healthcare could become a sore spot for them in the upcoming campaigns.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite part of the article was #5, health care fatigue. I think this part really shows that no matter what side of the debate people are on, they're sick of hearing about the affordable care act. I'm very surprised that even with a lot of people against the ACA many of them don't want it repealed. I'm also surprised that even with the recent surge in sign-ups the ACA is still despised by at least half of the country.
ReplyDeleteAs we know it is even harder to repeal something than it is to put into effect (as we have seen by the unbelievable amount of recent Republican attempts to repeal Obamacare.) So to continue the futile effort to bash the law seems like a waste of time, which not only reflects badly on Republicans, but the dysfunctional government as a whole. So to answer Lydia's original question, no I don't think that the health care legislation will ultimately hurt Democrats, but rather the Republican party.
ReplyDeleteLike most of my classmates and many other Americans, I am tired of hearing about the Affordable Care Act. Like Evan, it surprises me that although so many more Americans have signed up for the Affordable Care act, about half of Americans are still against it. Like Christina and Casey, I find it confusing that there are a lot individual popular parts to this bill, but the bill overall is not. I think that since the deadline has now passed, we will stop hearing so much about this bill.
ReplyDeleteMany of the view points were to be expected, but i thought that the part about the program benefitting the GOP was interesting. I am wondering what would happen to the program if a republican president were to be elected in 2016. The ACA could be expanded and placed under the control of the republicans, although this would be inconsistent with GOP ideals, it would display the republicans as reformers, while still benefitting the public. The GOP could also try and end the program, which would be a huge mistake as it would take healthcare away from millions and it would make the GOP seem cold and heartless to those who cant afford healthcare. I fear the latter would come true as it would be regressive in nature and would increase the showing of partisanship that is currently underway.
ReplyDeleteI personally do not trust the American people to intelligently answer most of these polling type questions (except perhaps the one about healthcare fatigue). I don't particularly trust the American people to do this because I doubt that most of the people surveyed are truly knowledgeable about this. Obamacare is topic that gets a lot of bad press, and a lot of press in general and I think that the public can look down on an issue simply because it is controversial. Also this is a very nuanced topic and that could explain why many of the people surveyed support some parts of the bill but some how they don't support it over all. I do not think that I am necessarily knowledgeable to answer a survey on Obamacare and this goes back to Madison's Federalist papers and why our government needs to be removed from public opinion sometimes. Obama's legacy will not be marked by his low approval ratings. Obama's legacy will be discussed in a few decades when most people will be removed from the situation and we can logically see the effects of his decisions. The low approval ratings don't mean that he isn't a good president. We could look back in 20 or so years and Obamacare could be working great and this period of turmoil is just necessary for that result.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone about the "Healthcare Fatigue." Obamacare is in full effect, over 7 million have signed up and it's been passed through legislation and the Supreme Court. It's time everyone accepts it, whether they like it or not.
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