WaPo poll: Did Obama tell truth or mislead?

[ProSense]

Q: Barack Obama said in the past that people who have health insurance can keep their policies. That's not the case for people whose policies don't meet the law's minimum coverage standards. Do you think Obama (told the American public what he believed to be true) or (intentionally misled the American public)?

Obama told the American public what he believed to be true - 52 percent
Obama intentionally misled the American public - 44 percent

Democrat 81/16
Republican 24/71
Independent 49/48

18-39 52/44
40-64 53/43
65+ 50/45


Q: Do you think the federal government can recover from its problems implementing the new health care law and get it working successfully, or do you think these problems are an indication that the law is unworkable?

Government can recover - 49 percent
Law is unworkable - 49 percent

Democrat 86/12
Republican 16/83
Independent 42/55

18-39 56/43
40-64 47/51
65+ 42/54


Clues about the make up of this sample:

By 45 percent to 43 percent, respondents say Obama is "too liberal" vs. "just about right."

By 46 percent to 41 percent, respondents say the Democratic Party is "too liberal" vs. "just about right."

"Too conservative" - 9 percent for Obama and 10 percent for Democrats.

By 43 percent to 36 percent, respondents say the Reupblican Party is "too conservative" vs. "just about right."

17 percent said Republicans are "too liberal."


If the election were held today:

Obama 47 percent
Romney 47 percent.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/page/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2013/11/19/National-Politics/Polling/question_12490.xml?uuid=rTH2pFDXEeOe5iWACG2CVA#

[VanillaRhapsody]

1. Yeah...that's not skewwed at all!

[ProSense]

2. The polls are an attempt to feed the media narrative.

Obviously, the "he lied" meme failed, but release poll after poll showing disapproval to distract from the improving federal site and overall enrollment numbers.

As Greg Sargent points out, polls have shown opposition to the law for years. This was true even throughout the 2012 campaign. Yet Obama won on health care.

<...>

The new Washington Post/ABC News poll is brutal to Obama and his signature domestic achievement. Sixty-three percent of Americans disapprove of his handling of it. Only 40 percent support the law, versus 57 percent who oppose it. Only 34 percent support the individual mandate, and 71 percent support delaying it. The administration’s rollout of the law was an epic, unforgiveable failure, so it’s not surprising public disapproval is skyrocketing...However — and this is key — the public remains divided, at 49-49, on whether the government can ultimately get the law working or whether it is unworkable.

Crucially, majorities of the core Dem constituencies think it can still be made to work: 69 percent of non-whites; 56 percent of young voters; 59 percent of moderates; 51 percent of women; and 52 percent of college graduates (college educated whites, especially women, are an increasingly important part of the new Dem coalition) all think the law can recover.

This pattern is mirrored in a new National Journal poll. It finds a slim majority of 52 percent thinks the law will do more to hurt the health system than to help it. But it also finds that only a small minority, 38 percent, support repealing the law. Majorities of all the core Democratic groups — minorities, young voters, and college educated whites — still support the law, and tilt overwhelmingly against repeal. Only two groups support repeal: Republicans, and non-college whites.

<...>

At a moment of unrelentingly awful press for the law, a basic dynamic that has been in place for years, one that many commentators simply refuse to acknowledge, is still holding: Majorities disapprove of Obamacare, but disapproval does not translate into majority support for scrapping or eliminating it entirely — particularly among core Dem constituencies.

<...>

POLL FINDS LITTLE MOVEMENT ON OBAMACARE: Meanwhile, a Reuters/Ipsos poll finds: that disapproval of the law is running high, but has not changed much since before the rollout. Also:

Republicans have vowed to try to repeal the law, but the poll showed they could face some obstacles because some elements of the law, such as requiring insurance companies to cover people with pre-existing conditions, remain popular…Forty-one percent of those polled said they found the problems “unacceptable” and that they were an example of why the healthcare law never should have been passed.

<...>
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/11/19/the-morning-plum-heres-why-dems-should-stick-with-obamacare/

[Boom Sound 416]

3. So 56% of 18-39 believed he mis-led?

Recoverable, but alarming

[ProSense]

4. No, the other way around. n/t

[Boom Sound 416]

5. Whoops!

[Laelth]

6. Interesting. Thanks for posting. k&r n/t

-Laelth