WaPo Pushes Page One Poll on Hurt Feelings If ObamaCare Was Shelved

It wasn’t so long ago that the Washington Post was touting massive popular support for a socialist “public option” in the health care plan. Now that the hopes for liberals are so bleak that the Post on Tuesday published a pie graph at top of page one asking respondents “how you would feel if Congress decides to stop work on health-care reform and does not pass a law this year?”

The Post put what it perceived to be the liberal answers in red: “Angry” (20 percent) and “Disappointed” (38 percent).  In gray were “Relieved” (24 percent) and “Happy” (14 percent). The poll wasn’t done by the Post, but by the liberal “reform” advocates at the Kaiser Family Foundation.

This liberal group’s survey also asked “do you generally support or generally oppose the health care proposals being discussed before Congress?” That answer was 43 to 43, with a larger group of “strongly oppose” (32 percent) than “strongly favor” (24 percent). That poll wasn’t used.

It could be argued that someone could mildly favor or mildly oppose the current health care proposals and fit in the “disappointed if they quit” column. Independents who like the idea of action more than they care about the page-by-page specifics would fit that category.

Even the 43-43 poll finding isn't quite what the latest Post poll found: their February survey found 46 for and 49 against, but the gap was twice as wide between strongly favor (22 percent) and strongly oppose (38 percent). The Post respondents also agreed current plans were "too complicated" (60 percent) and "too expensive" (58 percent). 

The Kaiser Family Foundation claims to be nonpartisan, but the foundation’s experts and its president, Drew Altman, routinely support the “reform” side in the current battle, as they did in the Clinton health care battle.