Parsing Public Opinion About Obamacare — And GOP Repeal Efforts
The Washington Post's Fact Checker finds a recent Obamacare poll by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce presented data "in a highly misleading way," while a memo by President Barack Obama's pollster asserts that GOP efforts to repeal the health law have the support of only about half of GOP voters.
The Washington Post's The Fact Checker: A Misleading 'Obamacare' Poll, Courtesy Of The Chamber Of Commerce And Harris Interactive
We have long warned readers about the perils of relying on data from opt-in Internet polls, especially those that make broad claims about estimating population values. We have given Pinocchios both to President Obama, for relying on an opt-in poll when he claimed that a majority of millionaires support the Buffett rule, and the National Rifle Association, for asserting that an opt-in poll reflected the views of the nation’s police. This is a yet another case, but with a wrinkle. Here, the polling company, Harris Interactive, and the sponsor, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, presented the data in a highly misleading way — and then made false claims about the type of poll that had been conducted (Kessler, 7/31).
Politico: Joel Benenson: Weak Support For Obamacare Repeal
Republican efforts to repeal Obamacare have middling public support at best, including among GOPers and in states carried last year by Mitt Romney, a new Democratic polling memo states. The "interested parties" memo by President Barack Obama's pollster Joel Benenson, obtained by POLITICO, asserts that GOP efforts to repeal the president’s signature health care law barely have majority support of their own voters and that Republicans are embracing a political loser by continuing to fight implementation (Haberman, 7/30).