CNBC's Dan Mangan, last seen at NewsBusters claiming that the American people want politicians to just "shut up about Obamacare," is out with a column today reacting to the Kaiser Family Foundation's latest Affordable Care Act-related polling effort.
Sarah Ferris at the Hill also reviewed the poll, and has two primary messages for readers. First, "support for ObamaCare continues to fall." Second, "Healthcare remains one of the most important issues in midterm elections, ranking only behind the economy and jobs as voters’ top issue." To be clear "the economy and jobs" is considered one issue. So it's really pathetic how Mangan twisted the same poll Ferris covered (bolds are mine):
Obamacare doesn't fire up many voters: poll
They might want to change the name to Obama-who-cares.
Obamacare now ranks very low among issues that are driving the most enthusiastic registered voters in upcoming mid-term elections that could alter the balance of power in the U.S. Congress, a new poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation finds.
The finding suggests that last fall's predictions that President Barack Obama's signature health-care reform law would by itself be the kiss of death of the Democratic majority in the Senate were possibly overblown.
Really, Dan? Second is "low," when "the economy and jobs" almost always ranks first in any poll, and when Obamacare's effect on "the economy and jobs" is a matter of primary concern?
Continuing, we see that Mangan decided only to focus on the "most enthusiastic voters," who only make up only a portion of those who will actually vote:
Just 3 percent of voters who self-identified as being more enthusiastic about voting this year answered "health-care law/Affordable Care Act/Obamacare" when asked their main reason for being so eager to go the polls this November, the Kaiser Family Foundation report said.
Oh, and he's trying to pretend that "healthcare" as an issue is somehow different from Obamacare:
While Obamacare as an issue itself ranks low as a motivator among particularly enthusiastic voters, health care as an issue generally ranks highly among all registered voters when asked what was important in determining how they will vote for candidates for the Senate and House of Representatives, Kaiser found.
Given that Obamacare impacts the entire healthcare system, whether the public fully recognizes it or not, the idea of differentiating "Obamacare" from "healthcare" in an attempt to comfort the statist medical regime's defenders is downright silly.
As to the poll itself, readers can expect that the press will give it the same treatment that it's giving polls about Barack Obama's low approval ratings in general: None.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
