Polls are merely inexact and momentary snapshots, of course, but this is certainly interesting:
More Americans now favor than oppose the health care overhaul that President Obama signed into law Tuesday, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds — a notable turnaround from surveys before the vote that showed a plurality against the legislation.
By 49%-40%, those polled say it was “a good thing” rather than a bad one that Congress passed the bill. Half describe their reaction in positive terms — as “enthusiastic” or “pleased” — while about four in 10 describe it in negative ways, as “disappointed” or “angry.”
Perhaps this explains things like Chuck Grassley, who helped spread the “death panels” nonsense, taking very public credit for positive elements of the health care reform he voted against.
ADDITIONAL: I’ve seen some messed-up sentences, but this one deserves a prize:
“Also, the new law provides for taxes on investment income to pay for socialized health care: Sucking out the lifeblood of our economy to fund the deathbeds of the destitute.”
The closer you look, the more offensively stupid the thing gets. From the same article, a conglomeration of heated 19th-century rhetoric:
“And just as the free states could not tolerate the spread of slavery into their midst, so too, free, middle-class America–if it still has its historic character–will not tolerate the yoke of socialism put upon our necks.”
Compare and contrast to the writings of T. Herman Zweibel, if you dare:
“I am told that our new War of the White House section will contain the vetted and censored life stories of each candidate; white-washed and simplified versions of their heinous plans to drain the life and wealth of each and every tax-payer; a schedule denoting the appearances of every aspirant, so that one may go and be covered in unspeakable fulminating lies in person instead of hearing them over the crystal-set.”
ADDITIONALLY ADDITIONAL: My current favorite complicating factor that illustrates how far Republicanism is from the fairly centrist ideals it once embraced, and just how much of a political mess has arisen from health care reform–quoting David Frum from the last post:
“…[the health care reform legislation] builds on ideas developed at the Heritage Foundation in the early 1990s that formed the basis for Republican counter-proposals to Clintoncare in 1993-1994.”
PLUS: Here’s a mighty handy (and woah–interactive!) compiling of polls old and new. Interesting stuff. Looks like the polls are almot all pre-vote, with a very few exceptions.
And along with it, TPM’s extremely accurate statement about the data: “As you can see in the graph below, Reform’s unpopularity was at its highest in December and January and has become a bit more popular and a bit less unpopular since then.”
