Voters Hate Government Medicine; How About Immigration?

The Democrats are in deep trouble on the health care issue. Voters’ opposition to Obamacare isn’t going away, if anything, it might be intensifying. Rasmussen finds that 58% of likely voters favor repeal of the health care takeover law, with only 38% opposed to repeal. A remarkable 47% strongly favor repeal. This is why:

Sixty percent (60%) of voters nationwide believe the new law will increase the federal budget deficit, while just 19% say it will reduce the deficit.
Fifty-seven percent (57%) think the law will increase the cost of health care, while 18% believe it will reduce costs.
Fifty-one percent (51%) expect the quality of care to decline, while 24% predict it will get better.

That’s the trifecta of bad health care legislation, and those margins are very wide.
Next up, immigration. Democrats in Congress and the press try to spin the issue as a positive for Democrats; The Hill, for instance, begins its report:

Immigration’s arrival as a possible legislative issue reflects the aggressive approach Democrats have taken since the passage of healthcare reform.
Democrats have played offense since Obama signed the healthcare bill, first by pushing a Wall Street reform bill to the floor, and now by signaling a fight on immigration is on the horizon.
The danger on immigration, however, is that it can cut both ways.

D’ya think? Actually, it seems obvious that any effort by the Democrats at “comprehensive immigration reform” will work to the Republicans’ advantage. Seventy percent of Arizonans support their state’s new immigration law, but Barack Obama says it is “irresponsible.” Rasmussen finds that nationwide, 60% of voters favor laws that permit police to “stop and verify the immigration status of anyone they suspect of being an illegal immigrant.” Only 31% are opposed. Which explains why the Hill acknowledges that House Democrats won’t go first on the issue:

House Democratic leaders have insisted they will not move on immigration reform before the Senate for precisely this reason. A move on immigration reform in the Senate would violate Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) pledge to not force her members to take tough votes in an election year unless the Senate acts first.

Byron York’s assessment, in the context of the Dems’ putting aside cap-and-trade to focus on immigration instead, is more in tune with political reality:

Reid’s about-face left many in the GOP amazed. Democrats appear to be tossing aside one difficult-to-pass issue in favor of an impossible-to-pass issue. The likelihood is that neither will pass. “There will be no immigration and no energy,” says another Senate aide. “They can do some sort of an energy bill, but it won’t be cap-and-trade. Graham-Kerry-Lieberman won’t pass. The support is just not there, even among Democrats. And on immigration — after having voted for a health care bill that’s toxic, voted for the biggest deficits ever, Democrats are then going to turn around and vote for an amnesty bill?”
Unlikely.

The Democrats are torn between their desire to do as much as they can before their majorities are eroded or worse in November, and the fear that taking on still more unpopular causes–immigration, cap-and-trade–will make the electoral carnage even worse.

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