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The GOP may want to rethink its anti-Obamacare strategy

Since the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) was signed by President Obama in 2010, the Republican Party has been on a mission to ultimately destroy it - through negative ad campaigns, talking points and promises leading up to election day, 50+ failed repeals, the government shutdown, etc. However, while these seemingly constant attacks on the new healthcare law had gained some traction when it came to public polling, it didn't impact the Supreme Court's decision to uphold it nor any component of the law itself. ...and not only that, unfortunately for the Republicans, since surpassing its goal of 7 million sign-ups by March 31st, Obamacare has been receiving much more positive press, and this can be seen in recent poll numbers. While the Republican Party may have been able to win over some voters during late last year with healthcare.gov's gliched site and botched roll-out, the tide appears to be turning, and GOP candidates may need to find something else to run on in the coming elections than just, "If you vote for us, we'll repeal Obamacare!" Even if the press hadn't been so positive with regard to the healthcare law of late, I'd respond to such points with, "Right... Because when you fail 50 times at that, I'm supposed to believe 51 will be a winner!"

Reuters/Ipsos has been releasing a monthly poll regarding the public's opinion on healthcare. In February, only about 25% of respondents believed that Democrats had a better healthcare plan than Republicans. That number increased to 31% in March, and now 32% in April. On the other side of the aisle, meanwhile, 24% of respondents believed the Republican Party had a better healthcare plan than Democrats in the month of March (net -7%), and that's decreased to 18% in April (net -14%).

With regard to the results, pollster Chris Jackson said the following:

"Democrats have not managed to have a huge lead over Republicans so much as Republicans have managed to damage their own position and stay behind Democrats. That's because people don't view the Republican Party as standing for any particular healthcare system."

In any case, with: ACA enrollments eclipsing the 7.5 million mark; a recent CBO report noting that premiums are more affordable than had been anticipated and that the bill will also cost less than had been predicted; another report claiming that more insurance companies, which had been skeptical about the law at first, are looking to join the party next year, which could also decrease prices; not to mention the positive news stories with regard to the bill, I have a hunch the ACA's approval numbers will continue to climb, and with that, the Republican Party will need to find another strategy to appeal to voters on election day. If history is any indication, that's not going to happen. But if the before-mentioned ACA trends continue, what the GOP may wind up doing is telling voters, "Obamacare was our idea back in the '90s and he stole it! He's a thief! Vote for us and we'll impeach Obama for stealing Obamacare from the Republican Party!"

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/15/us-usa-healthcare-poll-idUSBREA3E21220140415

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