Sunday's Today show on NBC and Sunday Morning on CBS presented seemingly contradictory polling results on how much ObamaCare is supported by the American public, although both seemed to be citing the same AP poll.
As Meet the Press host David Gregory appeared on Today, anchor Lester Holt suggested that Republicans are going against the majority of Americans in promising to repeal ObamaCare as he vaguely referred to polling data and contended, "But new polling out suggests that most people not only do they not want to, don't want it repealed, they want more added to it," and added, "Do Republicans have to refine this message and take a better look at it?" According to the AP polls results recounted on msnbc.com [1], "four in 10 adults think the new law did not go far enough to change the health care system."
By contrast, on Sunday Morning, CBS anchor Charles Osgood briefly recounted numbers from the AP poll which suggested that ObamaCare is unpopular: "A poll commissioned by the Associated Press finds just 30 percent of Americans in favor of the new health care law, 30 percent are neutral, and 40 percent oppose it. Four out of 10 respondents say the new law doesn't do enough to change the health care system."
Returning to NBC, Gregory did not comment directly on whether he believed the poll's accuracy, and argued that the Republican message may indeed be successful. Gregory: "If the message is government's out of control, they passed this huge entitlement, it's going to cost a lot of money and have you felt the effects of it yet, I think that has the shot to be a winning political message." He then raised the theory from the left that ObamaCare will become more popular as people benefit from it: "But the more people start to feel health care reform, so the argument goes, it will become more popular. But that has not exactly been the case across the board yet with health care reform, and that's why the President has to keep hammering away at it."
Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Sunday, September 26, Sunday Morning on CBS, followed by the same day's Today show on NBC:
#From the September 26 Sunday Morning on CBS:
CHARLES OSGOOD: A poll commissioned by the Associated Press finds just 30 percent of Americans in favor of the new health care law, 30 percent are neutral, and 40 percent oppose it. Four out of 10 respondents say the new law doesn't do enough to change the health care system.
#From the September 26 Today show on NBC:
LESTER HOLT: The President in his weekly radio address, he talked about the Pledge for America, it's the Republican pledge that they have released. One of the things they talked about was going after the health care, repealing the health care bill. But new polling out suggests that most people not only do they not want to, don't want it repealed they want more added to it. Do Republicans have to refine this message and take a better look at it?
DAVID GREGORY: Well, I think that, from a political point of view, if the message is government's out of control, they passed this huge entitlement, it's going to cost a lot of money and have you felt the effects of it yet, I think that has the shot to be a winning political message. But the more people start to feel health care reform, so the argument goes, it will become more popular. But that has not exactly been the case across the board yet with health care reform, and that's why the President has to keep hammering away at it.
HOLT: This Pledge for America, of course, many compare it to the contract from 1994. How does it differ?
GREGORY: Well, I mean, it is, it's very similar. It lacks some specifics that the '94 contract had. But one thing that's similar is that what's more important than the Pledge to America, what's more important than the Contract with America is the political climate in which they're operating. The truth is it's the unpopularity of President Obama and his policies right now that's hurting democrats more than faith in the Republicans which, by the way, is an argument that the Presidents trying to exploit and say, look, the alternative is not the way to go here.
- Brad Wilmouth is a news analyst at the Media Research Center.