Thursday, August 14, 2008

How Not to Beat McCain   [Ramesh Ponnuru]

Nate Silver is worried about McCain's advantage over Obama on gas prices. He recommends that Obama push hard for the Gang of 10 compromise and talk up other economic issues. "Health care polls just as well as offshore drilling does, with roughly two out of every three Americans favoring some kind of universality. But the last time the Obama campaign highlighted universal health care in one of its press releases was in April." But follow the link and you'll see how weak that support is. Sixty-two percent of Americans "prefer a universal health insurance program over the current employer-based system." Would they support it if it included, as Obama's does, "a regressive and job-killing tax on work"? Would they support it, by huge margins, over the McCain tax-credit approach? I'd be interested in seeing survey data that tests fairly worded descriptions of each plan against the other. But I don't think this issue is the silver bullet Democrats wish it were.

08/14 01:14 PMShare