Was the election a show of support for Obamacare?

[techs]

I remember the Republicans and their happy puppies in this forum proclaiming Obama was finished the moment he signed health care reform.

Yet he won pretty handily.

So, I feel confident in saying the American people not only want the new health care law, but are probably hoping for a more sweeping revision.

 

[jpeyton]

Obamneycare: supported at the state and national levels.

If only Mitt stuck to his guns instead of flip-flopping to appease the Tea Party, he might have won.

 

[Zebo]

I didnt relize it was popular. Right hated it ofc many on left did too as bailout to big phama/insurance and hospitals and abandoning single payer. Like Dean and kusinich

 

[techs]

I didnt relize it was popular. Right hated it ofc many on left did too as bailout to big phama/insurance and hospitals and abandoning single payer. Like Dean and kusinich

Every time the right talked about a poll that showed more Americans opposed the law they never mentioned that a substantial number of those people actually wanted a more comprehensive law. But when it came to an election and the only choices were repeal or keeping it, the proportions changed dramatically.

 

[DaveSimmons]

No. The popular vote was close, and the Republicans retained a majority in the House.

I'd like to see polling on this, but my wild guess is that a fair number of Obama voters were like me, voting against Romney not for Obama. Choosing the lesser evil does not translate to supporting his agenda.

 

[classy]

This election was more about keeping the glass that may be half full, than getting a new glass that may be half empty. We know what we got and quite frankly the unknown with the republicans I believe to most people just wasn't worth the risk.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

I remember the Republicans and their happy puppies in this forum proclaiming Obama was finished the moment he signed health care reform.

Yet he won pretty handily.

So, I feel confident in saying the American people not only want the new health care law, but are probably hoping for a more sweeping revision.

I feel confident that when asked more were against it than for. In terms of "handily winning" Obama won by two percent. I'll remind you that the EC system does not represent the popular vote. Nor does the victory as you framed it represent a dislike of romney. It is as I predicted, as slim percentage win would be taken as vindication or a rebuke. Since dems won it's the former, but it really is irrelevant. What the people want isn't important. It's what you insist they have.

 

[Agent11]

No. The popular vote was close, and the Republicans retained a majority in the House.

I'd like to see polling on this, but my wild guess is that a fair number of Obama voters were like me, voting against Romney not for Obama. Choosing the lesser evil does not translate to supporting his agenda.

Obama won by over 2million votes.

 

[sactoking]

If I remember correctly, exit polling on Tuesday indicated 49% wanted it repealed in whole or in part and 44% favored some sort of expansion. Given that i can't see how the election is a show of support for the ACA.

That doesn't even account for the fact that attributing a multiple issue election result to a single comPonent issue is a horrible fallacy.

 

[techs]

Will the 2016 Republican candidate run on a plank of repealing Obamacare and returning to our current system?

 

[sactoking]

Will the 2016 Republican candidate run on a plank of repealing Obamacare and returning to our current system?

I doubt it. If I am permitted a moment to editorialize about the ACA (something I try to avoid given my apolitical ACA thread), i would not be surprised if by 2016 the ACA was declared a failure that only single payer could fix, despite the fact that failure of the ACA is most contingent upon the current administrations utter and willful failure to offer rules to ensure success. In 2016 the GOP platform will probably be "we have to keep the ACA because single payer is worse".

 

[DaveSimmons]

Obama won by over 2million votes.

And 58 million voted for Romney. 50% vs.48% is not a stunning (popular) victory or a ringing endorsement.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Obama won by over 2million votes.

Two percent. Take a crowd of a hundred people and divide them in two, one with 50 and the other with 48. If you could see the any difference you would note that as a whole it's insubstantial. So with a hundred million, the proportion is unchanged.

 

[Ketchup]

I don't think Obamacare had much to do with it. Correct me if I am wrong, but I thought Obamacare was designed not to really started rocking until some point within this term. I don't know the exact time frames.

My guess is they designed it that way so the economy would have time to improve before a burden like this was put in place.

 

[zinfamous]

And 58 million voted for Romney. 50% vs.48% is not a stunning (popular) victory or a ringing endorsement.

2 million less votes than McCain.

....that was the year when the Republican idea was the most reviled it has ever been in this country. They have, so they tell us, been resurgent since then.

Yet, they couldn't even gain as much support as they had when even they didn't want their own message.

Ouch.

 

[glenn1]

I remember the Republicans and their happy puppies in this forum proclaiming Obama was finished the moment he signed health care reform.

Yet he won pretty handily.

So, I feel confident in saying the American people not only want the new health care law, but are probably hoping for a more sweeping revision.

Pretty much everyone wants it revised because it has some problems, to put it mildly. The two side disagree on what's wrong and how to fix it. Obama has been reelected and has a chance to improve it; lets hope he does a good job.

 

[Londo_Jowo]

I don't know what the election shows but it sure seems to have caused you to start 20 threads in 2 days.

 

[monovillage]

I don't know what the election shows but it sure seems to have caused you to start 20 threads in 2 days.

This.

 

[CountZero]

If I remember correctly, exit polling on Tuesday indicated 49% wanted it repealed in whole or in part and 44% favored some sort of expansion. Given that i can't see how the election is a show of support for the ACA.

That doesn't even account for the fact that attributing a multiple issue election result to a single comPonent issue is a horrible fallacy.

I think polling would've been better if it just was an all or nothing option. Far too many people like the parts of ACA that costs money but dislike the parts that counter that increased cost. People hate paying for things, even things they like.

As to the OP I think it was more Romney losing than Obama winning. Much like 2004 it was the challenger's race to win but he failed to sell himself as anything but just not the incumbent.

 

[Bowfinger]

I doubt it. If I am permitted a moment to editorialize about the ACA (something I try to avoid given my apolitical ACA thread), i would not be surprised if by 2016 the ACA was declared a failure that only single payer could fix, despite the fact that failure of the ACA is most contingent upon the current administrations utter and willful failure to offer rules to ensure success. In 2016 the GOP platform will probably be "we have to keep the ACA because single payer is worse".

I've been suggesting something akin to that for a long time. While I think ACA in its current form is a fiasco, it breaks the ice on ensuring Americans have some modest level of health coverage. Once that is finally accepted, Congress can shift its focus to cleaning up the mess so it's actually workable and a boon to America instead of a boondoggle. Of course as long as they get their ideas from lobbyists instead of health care experts, ACA will probably still be a cluster, but maybe we can eventually evolve it into something better.

Edit: re. the OP, I think this was more a referendum on Romney than the ACA. I do think it shows the level of opposition to the ACA is nowhere near as large or as strident as so many on the right have claimed. It simply was not a deal-breaker for the majority of voters.