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Whit Ayres, October 3
October 3, 2014 by North Star
Whit Ayres' comments in the Boston Globe on ObamaCare as an issue in this year's elections:
Not so fast, retorts GOP pollster Whit Ayres: The ACA is still a hot issue where it really matters this year, which is in the dozen states with tight Senate races.
"The health care law is one of the top issues for Republicans and independents, and trust me, they are not in support," says Ayres, who with Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg has just completed a survey for National Public Radio of those states. Among all voters in those states, the economy, at 55 percent, is the biggest issue driving voters, with the ACA next, at 36 percent, followed by foreign policy and the Islamic State, at 33 percent, he says.
To read the full article, please click here.
Filed Under: Featured, Health Care, Home Page, In the News Sidebar, News Clips, Political Climate
Whit Ayres, April 1
April 1, 2014 by North Star
Whit Ayres' comments for CNN regarding ObamaCare and the midterm elections:
Republican pollster Whit Ayers said there's a more powerful factor in voter fatigue: Obama himself.
Six years into a President's term, "people get tired of that person's leadership," he said. "Especially this President's."
Filed Under: Blog, Featured, Health Care, Home Page, In the News Sidebar, News Clips, Obama Approval Rating, Political Climate
Dan Judy, November 15
November 20, 2013 by North Star
Dan Judy's comments on Obamacare and the President's approval rating, for US News and World Report:
Republican pollster Dan Judy, who has done polling for the NRCC, says that with Obama's approval plummeting, "things are looking grim for House Democrats."
"Obamacare is likely to be an even bigger campaign issue than it was in 2010 when the Republicans used it to devastating effect against Democratic incumbents," Judy says. "It's gotten Republicans re-energized and Democrats demoralized, which is exactly the opposite of what the Democrats need to have a chance next year."
For the full article, please click here.
Filed Under: Blog, Featured, Health Care, In the News Sidebar, News Clips, Obama Approval Rating
The Obamacare Infection
November 15, 2013 by Whit Ayres
Whit Ayres' post titled "The Obamacare Infection" was featured on National Review Online:
Our polling has shown that the overwhelming majority of Americans simply did not believe most of the president's promises about Obamacare. In March 2012, substantial majorities said that key claims he made about the law were false. For his claim that "the plan will not add one dime to the federal-budget deficit," that figure is 71 percent; for "the plan will lower premiums for the average family by $2500 per year," 67 percent; for "the plan will lower costs for individuals, businesses, and the federal government," 64 percent.
The one promise they did believe? "If you like your current health plan, you will be able to keep it." By a margin of 64 to 27 percent, Americans said that promise was true. And now they are discovering that to be false as well.
To read the full post, please click here.
Whit Ayres, October 31
October 31, 2013 by North Star
Whit Ayres' comments on Morning Edition regarding ObamaCare:
The message challenge for the White House has been and remains very significant. The president made a lot of promises about his healthcare plan that, according to our polling, most Americans never believed. They never believed that the plan would lower health insurance premiums for the average family by $2,500 a year, that the plan would not add one dime to the federal deficit.
The one promise they did believe is that if you like your current plan, you can keep it. And now they're finding out that not even that is true and they're feeling betrayed. I think the jury is still out about the individual impact on this law, but I think it's going to be negative.
For the segment transcript, or to listen to the segment, please click here.
Filed Under: Featured, Health Care, In the News Sidebar, News Clips, Political Climate
Whit Ayres' comments for the Associated Press regarding Obamacare:
"There's no question the issue has legs, in part because it affects so many Americans very directly and in part because the glitches with the website are simply one of many fundamental problems with this law," GOP pollster Whit Ayres said.
Filed Under: Featured, Health Care, In the News Sidebar, News Clips, Obama Approval Rating, Political Climate
Whit Ayres' comments in Politico regarding ObamaCare in the 2014 elections:
Republicans, they say, can just let the spotlight return to the federal Obamacare website that breaks all the time — and any other implementation oopsies that happen along the way. That process is already underway, as House Republicans plan hearings on the website issues and Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida warned that there will be a "revolt" over Obamacare in 2014.
"Getting the shutdown-debt limit debate behind us allows the problems with Obamacare to resurface. Those problems haven't gone away," said Republican pollster Whit Ayres, who had warned GOP lawmakers that the shutdown would be a major distraction from those problems.
To real the full article, please click here.
Whit Ayres' comments in Politico on President Obama, ObamaCare, and the budget impasse:
"You reap what you sow," said Whit Ayres, the veteran Republican pollster. "When you force through a major and very significant change to our economy, and you do it on a pure party-line vote, and at the very end change the rules to cram it through, you simply set up a long-term political battle that will never end."
For his part, Obama would be entitled to think that the Republicans' attempt to repeal or delay his signature initiative through the back-door means of a budget resolution to keep the government running is unreasonable. Indeed, GOP pollster Ayres notes that his surveys show that "shutting down the government is the one way to change Obamacare into a negative political issue for the Republicans." Asked why the tea party insisted on such tactics, he replied, "You'll have to ask them. They're obviously not persuaded by the available data."
Jon McHenry, September 19
September 19, 2013 by North Star
Jon McHenry's comments in US News and World Report on ObamaCare and a potential government shutdown:
On its own, GOP pollster Jon McHenry says repealing and dismantling Obamacare is a great issue that attracts the Republican base, a majority of independents and even a fraction of Democratic voters to the GOP ticket.
"Where we lose is where we link Obamacare to the CR," McHenry says, referring to the continuing resolution battle Congress is embroiled in.
Independents won't go for a government shutdown even if it would stop Obamacare in its tracks, he explains.
"It jeopardizes Republicans maintaining control of the House and even gaining control of the Senate, which they are in a position to do in 2014," McHenry says.
Filed Under: Blog, Featured, Health Care, In the News Sidebar, Independent Voters, News Clips, Political Climate
Jon McHenry, September 2
September 2, 2013 by North Star
Jon McHenry's comments in the Washington Times regarding President Obama and the budget:
"Has he been trying to sell his budget priorities?" asked Republican pollster Jon McHenry, vice president of North Star Strategies. "I'm sure there are some folks in upstate New York who appreciate that he's been out on the hustings. But there's so much attention on Obamacare, defunding it or delaying it, and Syria on the other side, that I don't know if anybody is getting any sense of his budget priorities."
The collapse of talks raised concerns that Washington could be headed for a government shutdown. Mr. McHenry said his polling suggests that would be a mistake for the GOP.
"What we're seeing in our polling and in the public polling is that Republicans are in fantastic shape when they're talking about Obamacare, and that includes with independents, right up until the point where you start talking about the government," he said. "At that point, it becomes more of an ideological issue where you start to lose some independents, and some Republicans, too."
Dr. Whit Ayres, president of North Star Opinion Research, co-founded Resurgent Republic with former RNC Chair Ed Gillespie. Read More...