Bloomberg Headline: Voters Back Obama Over Republicans on Health Care, Poll Finds

Really?

The poll itself says the public opposes ObamaCare, 47% against, 40% in favor.

So how the hell did it get that headline?

Well... they compared Obama's approval rating (a mere 52%) to the approval rating for Republicans in Congress.

That is, of course, apples and oranges, because Congress as a body (or a subset of that body) always gets very low ratings. Further, that question is not really about health care.

The major news here seems to be, as Qunnipiac itself declared in Sentence One:

American voters oppose 47 - 40 percent President Barack Obama's health care reform plan, and don't want an overhaul that only gets Democratic votes...

A Pew poll, by the way, finds even lower support for ObamaCare, with the same 47% opposition, but a mere 34% support.

But Bloomberg News thinks the public favors Obama.

Karl Rove disagrees.

Passing health-care reform could be harmful to the health of congressional Democrats.

Just look at how President Barack Obama's standing has fallen as he has pushed for reform. According to Fox News surveys, the number of independents who oppose health-care reform hit 57% at the end of September, up from 33% in July. Independents are generally a quarter of the vote in off-year congressional elections.

Among college graduates, opposition to health-care reform is now 50%, while only 33% support it, according to Gallup's Sept. 24 poll. College graduates are slightly more than a quarter of the off-year electorate.

Among seniors, opposition to ObamaCare hit 63% in last month's Economist/YouGov Poll. But the number from that poll that should spook Democrats is this: 47% of seniors said they "strongly" oppose health-care reform, just 27% "strongly" support it. Seniors are the biggest consumers of health care, and their family members will probably take their concerns seriously. Seniors will likely cast about 20% of the votes next year.

The trend behind these numbers is that voters are turning away from Democrats.

Dude, you're wrong. Bloomberg News Service assures me the public favors the plan.

In Fairness... I should note that the Qunnipiac poll finds 61% support for a public option, which frankly I don't understand. I think it's the wording.

By the Way: Quinnipiac has Obama's support virtually unchanged since last month at 50-41. (Last month he was 50-42.)

Which is cowbell-worthy.

posted by Ace at 06:29 PM

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