AP Survey: “Opposition To President Barack Obama’s Health Care Law Jumped After He Signed It” | Republican Leader John Boehner

AP Survey: “Opposition To President Barack Obama’s Health Care Law Jumped After He Signed It” | Republican Leader John Boehner

Flashback: President’s Pollster Said Gov’t Takeover “Would Win Over Public Support Once It Becomes Law”

Washington, Apr 15 -

Americans are even more opposed to President Obama’s job-killing health care law now than they were before it was forced through Congress last month, according to a new AP survey. This contradicts a claim made last month by President Obama’s pollster that Washington Democrats’ government takeover of health care would win support once it became the law of the land. Public opinion experts are befuddled by this trend, but they shouldn’t be: with Americans asking ‘where are the jobs?,’ the new health care law is already squeezing employers with job-killing tax increases and leaving families and small businesses to brace for higher premiums. Indeed, the new survey shows that nearly six in 10 Americans say they expect their health care costs to go up under the new law. And by more than 3-1, Americans expect their own care to get worse. Higher premiums, fewer jobs, and lower quality of care is not reform. That’s why Republicans are fighting to repeal this government takeover of health care and replace it with reforms focused first on lowering costs and protecting American jobs.

ONE MONTH AGO:

“President Barack Obama's pollster said the healthcare bill will win over public support once it becomes law despite polls showing Americans against the plan.” (The Hill, 3/13/10)

TODAY:

“Opposition to President Barack Obama's health care law jumped after he signed it … A new Associated Press-GfK poll finds Americans oppose the health care remake 50 percent to 39 percent. Before a divided Congress finally passed the bill and Obama signed it at a jubilant White House ceremony last month, public opinion was about evenly split.”

“Seniors — reliable voters in midterm congressional races — were more likely to oppose the law. Forty-nine percent strongly opposed it, compared with 37 percent of those 64 and younger.

“’The surprise of this poll is that you would expect people to be more supportive of the bill now that it's the law of the land — and that's not the case,’ said Robert Blendon, a Harvard public health professor who follows opinion trends on health care. …

“Fifty-seven percent said they expect to pay more for their own health care, contrasted with 7 percent who expect to pay less. And 47 percent said they expect their own medical care to get worse, compared with 14 percent looking forward to an improvement. ‘Based on the little information we know, somebody's going to have to pay for it, so it makes sense that taxes would go up,’ said Lang Fu, 48, an oil and gas engineer from Houston.” (Associated Press, 4/15/10)