ObamaCrapCare Hits A New Low.

Sharp Jump In Public’s Low Opinion Of Obamacare

August 1, 2014 by Ben Bullard 

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Polls, polls, polls. Useful as media fodder and for backseat political punditry. But polls, especially tracking polls that follow a single topic over time, can be useful in gauging the general direction of public opinion.

The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation’s monthly tracking poll for July is out today, and – in spite of Kaiser’s efforts in helping to introduce and explain Obamacare to the public in a positive light since the October 2013 rollout – the Obamacare numbers aren’t good.

“[T]he news for Obamacare is bad,” wrote Reason’s Peter Suderman today. “Really bad. So bad, in fact, that I’m not entirely sure I believe it.”

In one month, the percentage of Americans who indicated they held an unfavorable opinion of the Affordable Care Act rose from 45 percent (June) to 53 percent (July) – an eight percent increase. At the same time, 37 percent of Americans said they still hold a favorable opinion of the law in July, down from 39 percent in June.

Since Kaiser began tracking public opinion on Obamacare, there’s never been a percentage of Americans who view the law negatively as high as the 53 percent who did so through the end of July.

There’s little reason to expect that number to fall significantly between now and the November Congressional midterm election, regarded in many States as a voter referendum on Obamacare.

A Federal health official predicted this week that Healthcare.gov will still have functionality problems when enrollment begins this October; Californians are paying an average of 55 percent more for health insurance since the law went into effect; and lawsuits beset Obamacare on all sides.

“It’s beginning to look like the health-care law will never attract the public’s support,” wroteThe Daily Caller’s Sarah Hurtubise today. “Premiums are rising, against the promise of Obamacare supporters, but the most drastic premium hikes will likely not take effect until 2017, according to experts.”

One wonders what the Kaiser tracking poll will look like when that happens.

Millennials Are Typical Kids. Want Everything But Don't Want To Pay For It!

Millennials Desire Government That Provides All and Costs Nothing

The Unicorn/Dragon ticket should snag the youth vote.

by
WALTER HUDSON

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July 15, 2014 - 11:20 pm

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Over five years of activism in and around the Republican Party, I have frequently heard (and occasionally made) calls to appeal to young voters. Such exhortations typically include a claim to know what young voters want. They want government out of their personal lives. They want a more tolerant and inclusive society. And they want government to balance its checkbook. But the full picture proves a bit more convoluted, as The Atlantic reports:

Millennial politics is simple, really. Young people support big government, unless it costs any more money. They’re for smaller government, unless budget cuts scratch a program they’ve heard of. They’d like Washington to fix everything, just so long as it doesn’t run anything.

That’s all from a new Reason Foundation poll surveying 2,000 young adults between the ages of 18 and 29. Millennials’ political views are, at best, in a stage of constant metamorphosis and, at worst, “totally incoherent,” as Dylan Matthews puts it.

Author Derek Thompson ably demonstrates how the results could be construed by partisans to signal millennial support for either political party’s agenda. That in spite of a similar Pew poll indicating that millennials don’t care much for either party. In short, the Reason Foundation poll offers little to nothing of any practical substance regarding a millennial platform for public policy.

This really shouldn’t surprise us. Kids want everything, right now and for free, until they learn the value of a dollar through practical experience. The Reason Foundation poll found that millennials who meet with financial success tend to rethink that whole wealth redistribution thing.

Maybe the takeaway for politicos chomping at the bit to win the youth vote is to stop trying to figure them out. Instead, lead with principle and demonstrate how it serves their interests.

(Today’s Fightin Words podcast is on this topic available here. 10:52 minutes long; 10.49 MB file size. Right click here to download this show to your hard drive. Subscribe through iTunes or RSS feed.)