On health insurance, Sen. Mary Landrieu is in sync with her state.
The New York Times,
analyzing its own poll:
Health Law’s Middle-Ground Approach Leaves It Unloved
That's one way to look at it. But take a closer look at the results in the chart to the right. There are three options: 1) government should stay out of health insurance, 2) government should subsidize insurance, and 3) government should provide that insurance (single payer or public option).
Option 1 is the Republican position. Option 3 is the liberal one. Option 2 is Obamacare.
So sure, we see support split roughly three ways between the three options, hence, a "divided nation."
But I'm more fixated on Option 1, the Republican position, full repeal. Because even in solidly red Arkansas, Kentucky and Louisiana, and purple North Carolina, the Republican position is held by only about a third of the electorate.
So you have Republicans running around all four states screaming about Obamacare repeal, yet two-thirds of the voters favor government involvement in health care, or the Democratic position. THAT'S the corner they've painted themselves into. THAT'S what's going to ultimately kill them this year. And all of that despite the $100+ million the Kochs have spent over the past several years undermining the law.
I've consistently argued that the Affordable Care Act will be a net positive for Democrats this year, and certainly Republicans are already flailing around looking for a Plan B. But numbers like this point to even bigger problems for Republicans than I ever dreamed. It's not just that they're trying to take away insurance from hundreds of thousands of their constituents. It's they're utterly and completely out of sync with the voters.
And if these Southern conservative states feel this way, what hope do Republicans have?