An Inconvenient Detail

By Charles Pierce, Esquire

28 November 13

new CNN poll seems to indicate that a sizable bloc of voters aren't entirely buying the notion that the Affordable Care Act already has been rendered a dead parrot by its own internal contradictions. The poll also suggests an additional argument could be made by any Democrat ballsy enough to make it.

I know, I know. But play along, OK?

According to the survey released on Wednesday, four in 10 say they support the law, with 58% opposed. Those figures are little changed from a CNN poll a month ago, just two weeks into the rough start up of HealthCare.gov and mostly before the controversy over insurance policy cancellations due primarily to the new health law. But 41% say they oppose the law because they think it's too liberal, with 14% saying the measure doesn't go far enough. That means that 54% either support Obamacare, or say it's not liberal enough. Is the new law a success or failure? Nearly four in 10 say it's a failure, with 53% saying it is too soon to tell. Will the current problems faced by Obamacare be eventually solved? Fifty-four percent express optimism on this question, with 45% saying that Obamacare's flaws will never be fixed.

That 14 percent is the key. One of the main selling points that the administration used to peddle the ACA to progressive voters was that it was a first step along the road to a serious proposal for single-payer national health-care. The administration abandoned that argument a) once the law got passed, and b) once the mindless 2009 public hysteria translated itself into the election of the worst Congress in the history of the Republic. However, that notion still seems to be alive in the country. It ought not to be that difficult for a Democratic candidate to take advantage of the fact that the public is still overwhelmingly willing to give the law a chance, and that the public is still hankering for continued progress on the issue. Almost nobody is in favor of returning to the status quo ante, and that's really all the Republicans have to offer.

Moreover, it seems that young people, while more likely to be frustrated by technical glitches are, by the same token, more able to understand that things can be fixed.

Younger Americans are much less likely to express negative views of the new health care law. "Only 25% of 18-to-34 year olds say that the new law is a failure, compared to more than four in 10 in any other age bracket. Seven in 10 younger Americans think the current problems faced by Obamacare will eventually be fixed.

Corporate-financed beer pong, it appears, is not enough.