I’m not overly concerned about horrible polling numbers for ObamaCare right now, regardless of what demographic you might choose to focus on. The rollout of the website was a disaster and, up until this week, the press coverage of it has been unrelentingly negative. I think the resulting poll numbers represent a bottom.
This is especially true if we consider the case of so-called “waitress moms,” or white working-class women. A typical waitress has no health insurance from her employer, and she’ll struggle to afford a private plan that can cover her and her children. However, she is probably eligible for ObamaCare’s subsidies, which will often make health insurance affordable for the first time. In some states (it should be all), she may be eligible for Medicaid, which the federal government will pay for. So, there really isn’t any reason for your typical waitress mom to be hostile to ObamaCare, and the amazingly bad polling numbers for the law among working class white women is probably a reflection of their cultural alienation from the president. In a lot of the country, these women are probably exposed to a lot of negativity about the law, the Democrats, and the president, which is coloring how they view ObamaCare. But, once they have insurance, they’ll want to keep it. Our job will be to make sure they understand why they have it and who is trying to take it away.
