Voters love ObamaCare — if you give it another name


A new NBC-Marist poll in Kentucky shows Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) barely leading challenger Alison Lundergran Grimes (D) in their closely-watched U.S. Senate race, 46 percent to 45 percent.
But the more important numbers in the survey are about ObamaCare.
The poll finds that registered voters dislike ObamaCare by a wide margin, 57 percent to 33 percent. No surprise, right?
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However, when voters were asked to give their impression of "Kynect," the state exchange created as a result of the health care law, the findings were very different with a plurality in favor, 29 percent to 22 percent.
Coincidentally or not, these results come as Republican attacks on President Obama's landmark health care law have all but stopped.
The Hill reports that House Republicans "have no scheduled votes or hearings on ObamaCare, signaling a shift in the party's strategy as the White House rides a wave of good news on the law. Not a single House committee has announced plans to attack the health care law in the coming weeks."
In fact, Greg Sargent notes that one Democratic House candidate "is running a new ad hitting Republicans specifically for wanting to end Kentucky Kynect, as opposed to wanting to repeal ObamaCare."
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It appears that voters actually like ObamaCare — as long as you call it something else.
Taegan D. Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political websites. He also runs Wonk Wire and the Political Dictionary. Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and COO of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. senator and governor. Goddard is also co-author of You Won — Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country, including The Washington Post, USA Today, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer, and Christian Science Monitor. Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
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