Obamacare More Popular Than You Think

The conservative blogosphere is excited about a poll that shows the unpopularity of Obamacare. They should look more closely at the data, it's not all good news.

In the days leading up to Sunday’s historic vote on health care reform, the conservative blogosphere was buzzing with a newly released CNN poll that showed the unpopularity of the legislation.

Heritage and Redstate mentioned it on their respective blogs, pointing out that nearly 60% of Americans were against the bill:

Of course, no one mentioned the subsequent question, which read as follows:

This means that 52% of Americans either favored Obamacare or wanted a bill that was more liberal. It should be no surprise, then, that with the bill passed, the leftist wing of the Democratic Party is now falling in line to support the President’s bill.

Post-passage, a poll by CBS showed 46%-42% favorability for the bill; another poll by USA TODAY/Galllup showed a 49%-40% favorability.

What does this mean? Republicans can’t count on opposition to the Obamacare alone as their defining stance this November, especially with so many of its popular provisions kicking in right before the mid-terms.

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