President Obama’s health care reform legislation could help deliver battleground states to the GOP in the 2012 presidential election, according to a breaking new poll.
Zogby International recently conducted a poll of 10,000 likely voters to determine what voters in each of three categories of states think on a wide range of issues, including health care. The poll was commissioned by ATI-News and The O’Leary Report.
For polling purposes, all 10,000 voters were divided into three camps: 1) Red states that did not vote for Obama in 2008 and are unlikely to do so in 2012; 2) Blue states that did not vote for McCain in 2008 and are unlikely to vote GOP in 2012; and 3) Battleground “Green” states that could go either way in 2012. You should note that the following 12 Green states all saw significant changes brought about by statewide and congressional GOP victories and GOP wins in state legislatures as a result of the 2010 midterm elections: FL, IN, IA, MI, MO, NH, NM, NC, OH, PA, VA, and WI.
The first health care question the poll asked voters was, “What action, if any, should the new Congress take in regard to the health care reform bill that was passed last year?”
A 78% majority of Red state voters want the law repealed entirely or in part, with 56% wanting it repealed entirely. Similarly, 75% of Green state voters want Obamacare repealed entirely or in part, and 52% want a total repeal.
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In addition, 69% of voters in Red states want to repeal the portion of Obama’s health care law that requires small businesses to report any expenditures of $600 or more to the IRS, as do 67% of Green state voters.
A majority of Red and Green state voters (62% and 58%) respectively also want Congress to pass a separate law that ensures federal funds will not be spent on abortions.
And perhaps most damaging to the Democrats is that 60% of Green state voters agree with 65% of their Red state counterparts that Obamacare is unconstitutional, and that the Supreme Court should uphold the recent federal court’s ruling as such.
What we’re seeing with the Democrats’ health care overhaul is something rare in politics. Most times, middle-ground voters’ opposition to even the most controversial of political issues tends to subside and balance out over time. These poll numbers show that this issue should survive all the way to 2012, and that is bad news for President Obama and Democrats.
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