greymule Loc: Colorado

In a new survey, more than half of self-identified Republicans said they didn’t think the Affordable Care Act is increasing the number of people with health insurance, with a fifth of respondents saying it has actually reduced the number of people with coverage.

For the record, the evidence suggests these people are flat-out wrong.

The poll is from YouGov.com and, like some other recent surveys, the results suggest hostility to the law is waning. The evolution is slow and, even now, “Obamacare” has lots of skeptics. The YouGov survey asked, among other things, whether respondents think the health care law is “more of a success” or “more of a failure.” Forty-percent chose failure, while 30 percent chose success.

Still, that’s progress from October 2013, when, upon launching, Healthcare.gov and most of the state-run websites for purchasing insurance barely worked. Back then, just 14 percent thought the law was closer to success, while 58 percent thought it was closer to failure. More important, perhaps, 49 percent of respondents in the YouGov poll said the law should be “kept the same” or “expanded,” while just 40 percent said it should be repealed. That’s also a shift from the past, when pluralities in the YouGov poll favored repeal. (In surveys by other organizations, pluralities have generally favored keeping or strengthening the law.)

But the most revealing part of the YouGov poll was a more specific question about how people perceive the Affordable Care Act’s performance -- specifically, whether respondents think the number of people with insurance has increased, remained the same, or fallen over the last 12 months.

The question is revealing because it broke out response by partisan identification. Among Democrats, 77 percent said the number of people with insurance had risen, while just 9 percent said it had decreased. But among Republicans, just 43 percent thought the number of people with insurance had increased, while 21 percent said it had decreased.

To put it another way, less than half of Republicans think the number of uninsured is coming down, while one in five think it is going up.

Every major study -- including official estimates by the federal government and analyses by independent researchers -- has shown that the number of people with health insurance has risen substantially since the Affordable Care Act took full effect. While experts disagree over the precise magnitude of the increase, they don’t question its existence -- except at highly partisan, right-wing think tanks and on a certain cable television network.

It’s likely that perceptions of the Affordable Care Act are affecting the way some people assess its performance, rather than the other way around. In other words, when some conservative respondents hear a pollster ask questions about whether the health care law is helping people to get insurance, they may simply think about Obamacare and everything they h**e about it -- and instinctively give a negative response.

That would mean these self-identified Republicans aren’t denying reality so much as refusing to even think about it. Either way, it suggests some people will never support the Affordable Care Act, no matter what its effects on the real world.

idaholover Loc: Nampa ID

This reminds me of spinning the unemployment rate at under 6% when it is really in the teens.

RixPix Loc: Miami, Florida

The core rank and file members of the Republican party are by their very nature unquestioning regarding their perceived authority figures. Their "Christian" upbringing teaches them to believe on faith and to doubt those who oppose their beliefs. These behaviors make them not only sheep in "Christ's Flock" but also sheep to the real forces running the Republican Party. They will think what they are told by their shepherds including Shepherd Smith.

idaholover Loc: Nampa ID

You sure have a problem with people participating in Christianity don't you?

Twardlow Loc: Arkansas

The republican party is often referred to as "the stern daddy" party, living up to your assessment that they revere and tend to look for authority figures.


Here, from The Atlantic, Aug. 29, 2012:

"TAMPA -- Political players and journalists have long described the Democrats as the Mommy party and the Republicans as the Daddy party. The Democrats were the party of the hearth -- the warm and fuzzy ones who cared about kids and schools and health care -- and the Republicans were the party of the workplace -- the stern and sinewy ones who brought home the bacon and kept everyone safe."

idaholover Loc: Nampa ID

And Herr Obama is not an authority figure! Go see a doctor, you're terminal!

:roll:

Pepper Loc: Planet Earth Country USA

That's just nonsense. Think about it for even just a second. Is it not the liberals who want the unions to fend for them? Is it not the liberals who want the government to take care of their every need? What a load of crap, sheesh.

Twardlow Loc: Arkansas

I'll buy your second and third sentences, but they are in conflict with your first sentence, and your fourth.

Please re-read my original post, as I added a quote to it, that backs up what I said.

It seems to agree with both of us.

Twardlow Loc: Arkansas

You need to study the original post, and try to understand it. (I added a quote to make it clearer.)

Suggest you may be terminal yourself, as well as thoughtlessly rude.

idaholover Loc: Nampa ID

I cannot understand gibberish, never could.

RixPix Loc: Miami, Florida

No, I do not have a problem with people participating in a religion...I have a problem with religion co-mingling with government operations.

These faithful followers of the Republican faith do not understand how they are being used by their party's backers. The real (not imagined) decline of the American dream is tied directly to the post-Nixon Republican Presidents.

ArtzDarkroom Loc: Near Disneyland-Orange County, California

You keep referring to YouGov as if it were as ubiquitous as Google. I will have to look into it. I had never heard of it before this thread. As ill informed as I am I can only imagine how many other people have never heard of it and the mixture of subject in the poll is suspect.

On to YouGov.com?

Ok, no agenda here... lol

(Download)

idaholover Loc: Nampa ID

Maybe you could just deny believers the right to v**e! Then you might sleep better at night.

Pepper Loc: Planet Earth Country USA

Can you name the last President who claimed to be an atheist or non-believer, either Democrat or Republican?

idaholover Loc: Nampa ID

The American dream has been regulated and taxed out of existence by liberal law makers and executives!