By Fritz Wenzel
In a recent interview, presidential advisor David Axlerod expressed his dismay that, even as the White House publicity machine kicked into high gear to push for passage of the massive health care system overall, the public support for the plan had barely improved.
Last November, public opinion of the Democratic health care plan ran against it by about a two–to–one margin. This week, after months of promotion, the numbers haven’t changed much.
It’s a little surprising to me that the Obama people – smart people, really – don’t understand how public opinion works. Simply put: they don’t understand the American people.
Americans are naturally optimistic – they give new ideas a chance – which is why Barack Obama won the 2008 election in the first place. They were tired of the other guys and wanted to go in another direction. They were even willing to listen to the health care proposals, and some ideas were appealing, although the details were horrific. It has become clear that the health care bill was a stalking horse for a dizzying array of new government regulations.
Solidified public opinion moves very slowly
Democrats can’t answer the question ultimate healthcare question: Why do we have to destroy the best health care system in the world and change the way every American interacts with doctors and hospitals just to help the precious few who don’t have health insurance but want it?
Failure to address this question has caused America to decide – last fall – that Democrats don’t have a good answer. Once they came to that conclusion, the game was over. Opinion solidified, and has been solidly against this plan ever since. Once solidified, public opinion almost never changes. Democrats may still pass a big health care bill, but the public will never accept it, and never support it.
Americans have little tolerance for liars
This speaks to another enduring value that Americans hold particularly dear – truth. Many Americans believed Obama in 2008 when he talked about hope and change, and they gave him the benefit of the doubt. And goodness was there doubt. Here was a man who had never held an executive position in his life, running for the top executive position on Earth. There were doubts raised about his associations with radicals – you know the list by now – but the majority of voters rolled the dice and believed him when he said he wanted a better America. They conferred onto Barack Obama the quality of leadership for which they themselves hungered.
But there was an element of deceit in his campaign – there is an element of deceit in almost every political campaign, so that is no surprise, but when it became obvious his intentions were not to improve on an already great country but rather to make wholesale changes, Americans felt they had been lied to. They turned on Obama, and his job approval rating tanked. They turned more on the Democratic Congress, whose job approval ratings are now near historic lows and barely hovering above single digits.
You can dare to lie to the American people and hope to get away with it. But if they find out, you are toast. At that point, you do have recourse – an apology and a reversal of your path to become what they always thought you would be. Tiger Woods is now following that recourse. He is now trying to live a truthful life he had privately betrayed for years. He will make a substantial, but not full, recovery. Obama and the Democrats have not followed that path so far. They have stiffened their spines, taken defiant stances, and are poised to push through their reforms, public opinion be damned.
They may win this health care reform battle, but they will ultimately lose the war. That is the way of American public opinion.
Standing up and fighting makes us worthy of being an American. What did you do yesterday to live up to this goal? What will you do today and tomorrow?
Fritz Wenzel is President of Wenzel Strategies, a public opinion research and communications firm based in Columbus, Ohio. Wenzel Strategies conducts polling and analysis that matches or exceeds industry standards followed by such firms as Rasmussen Reports, Zogby International, and the Gallup Organization. Fritz Wenzel is an award–winning journalist with 15 years experience in the research industry.
Yesterday’s Rasmussen Presidential Index had Obama at – 18
This day in history March 12
1994: The Church of England ordained women as priests for the first time in its history. Membership in the Church of England has fallen steadily ever since.
Have you read this week’s “Betcha didn’t know this..” page? It’s loaded with interesting little “bite size” items you’re bound to enjoy.
Comments on this or any other Collins Report essay can be sent to kcoachc “at” gmail.com
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