August 16, 2010

By Dave Andrusko

If you are a Democrat who drank the Kool-aid and voted for ObamaCare, near the top of your wish list is that voters turn their attention elsewhere, even if it's to look at an economic sky that is, at best, dark and overcast. Where the electorate will be in November--which set of issues will dominate the horizon--is impossible to say definitively. What can be said, however, is that voter disenchantment with ObamaCare grows almost weekly.

Take what Rasmussen Reports told readers this morning. "Support for repeal of the health care reform bill is at its highest level in over a month, while the number of voters who believe repeal will be good for the economy has reached a new high."

A whopping 60% either someone or strongly (50%) favor repeal to only 36% who oppose repeal (26% strongly). On top of that--and surely fueling the growing numbers--is that "Fifty percent (50%) of voters now say repeal of the bill will be good for the economy. That's up six points from the end of July and is the highest result found since the question was first posed in April. Twenty-six percent (26%) say repeal of the bill would be bad for the economy, while another 15% say it will have no impact."

And while President Obama is not on the ballot, his signature "accomplishment"--ObamaCare--is. And Democrats who signed up for this enormous expansion of governmental power and intervention have to defend their votes.

Speaking of President Obama, I'm sure many of you caught some of the polls that came out in the last couple of days. Gallup found that support for Obama is under 50% for every economic bracket. In addition, this morning, Gallup's Frank Newport reported, "President Obama is facing his lowest job approval ratings yet. His 44% average for the week of Aug. 9-15 and latest three-day approval average of 42% are both the lowest of his presidency to date."

Newport argued that all recent Presidents have these ups and downs--from Lyndon Johnson to George W. Bush. But it's his next sentence that is the attention-grabber: "A president's job approval ratings are related to his party's success in midterm elections. Presidents with ratings below 50% have seen their party lose 36 seats on average in midterm House elections -- with a range of 11 to 55 seats lost." He concludes," A continuation of Obama's current pattern of approval ratings well below 50% would not bode well for the Democrats this fall."

Stay tuned.

PS. Just as I was about to post this item, I noticed this post from Rasmussen: "Republican candidates have jumped out to a record-setting 12-point lead over Democrats on the Generic Congressional Ballot for the week ending Sunday, August 15, 2010. This is the biggest lead the GOP has held in over a decade of Rasmussen Reports surveying."

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