http://hotair.com/greenroom/archives/2013/10/24/poll-60-percent-call-obamacare-rollout-a-joke-obama-approval-dips-again/Poll: 60 percent call Obamacare rollout “a joke,” Obama approval dips again
posted at 11:03 am on October 24, 2013 by Guy Benson
A few nuggets, fresh off the presses from Fox’s pollster:
(1) By a two-to-one margin (60/31), Americans say Obamacare’s implementation has been “a joke,” as opposed to it’s “going fine.” According to a recent CBS News survey, just 12 percent of the public says the launch has gone “well.”
(2) By a similar margin (59/31), Americans say the Obama administration is doing more to deepen the partisan divide in Washington, rather than bridge it. Hope and change, baby.
(3) Confirming a slew of other polls, it appears that the shutdown showdown actually boosted Obamacare’s overall perception. Slightly. A majority (51/41) would still prefer to “get rid of” the new law rather than keep it, but that’s down slightly from (53/40) in July. Independents support trashing the law by a 30-point margin.
(4) A strong plurality (49/38) of Americans believe that administration officials responsible for the failed launch should be fired. Fully 92 percent support the principle behind the so-called “Vitter Amendment” (which would have stripped away Washington’s sweetheart Obamacare carve-out). House Republican leaders were preparing to make this item their final shutdown/debt ceiling “ask,” but the rank-and-file crumbled, handing Democrats a lay-up win. If the GOP had stuck together, they could have dared Obama to follow through on his veto threat. Would the president have kept the government shut down and risked technical default for the sole purpose of protecting wildly unpopular Beltway exceptions?
(5) Nearly two-thirds of Americans say no one “won” the shutdown impasse; of the 40 percent of the public who disapproved of the eventual deal that ended the stand-off, the overwhelming majority gave it the thumbs down because “it doesn’t solve anything.”
(6) The president’s job approval rating took a hit because of the recent skirmish — even as more people blamed Republicans. Overall, Obama’s approval rating is underwater (41/53 — down from 45/49 three weeks ago), and scraping rock bottom among independents (30/57). Obama’s personal favorability rating is also upside-down (45/50), another number being dragged down by independents (30/60).
