July 29, 2010 06:39 PM UTC

Support for Health Reform Legislation Reaches 50%

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• by: Colorado Pols

Just when the “repeal Obamacare” bandwagon was really starting to fill up, The Hill reports:

Americans view Democrats’ signature health reform bill more positively now than at any point since it was signed into law, a new poll found Thursday.

50 percent of the public say they view the new healthcare law favorably, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll that has been tracking public opinion about the legislation since it became law.

35 percent of adults said they view the law unfavorably, while 14 percent had no opinion.

The July numbers mark the strongest support for reform since it reached a low in May, when the Kaiser poll found that the public opposed the law, 44-41 percent.

The positive numbers play heavily into this fall’s impending midterm elections, in which Republicans and Democrats will jockey over the reforms in the healthcare bill… [Pols emphasis]

There is where we say again that we have confidently predicted this shift in public opinion for months–just like conservative strategists such as David Frum knew that once the health reform legislation was law and began to be demystified, support would inevitably head back toward to the strong levels seen after the election of Barack Obama. This is why Republicans did not want health care reform legislation to pass in any form while Democrats were in charge; no matter how many conservative-appeasing compromises were made. Because health care in America needed fixing, everybody knows it, and it’s slowly becoming apparent just how irrational the opposition to what’s essentially the conservative Heritage Foundation’s health care plan really got.

Nobody who can get coverage now, and couldn’t before, is going to admit that they think the whole thing is terrible. And as the reforms continue to take effect, it’s only going to peel more support away from politicians who say they want to take these reforms from consumers. The 2010 election season may indeed represent the only year where Republicans will be able to capitalize on opposition to health care reform at all, after which time these reforms will be sufficiently popular and established that no candidate will ever dare to oppose them again (crazies notwithstanding).

Shorter version: make sure you’ve thought it through before jumping on the bandwagon.