PRESIDENT Barack Obama has lost support on key domestic issues but remains personally popular six months after taking office, according to a new Washington Post/ABC News poll, writes DENIS STAUNTONin Washington
The fall in support is especially striking on healthcare reform – a central legislative priority for the president, who wants both houses of Congress to pass legislation by next month.
For the first time, fewer than half of Americans approve of Mr Obama’s handling of healthcare, with his approval rating on the issue sliding from 57 per cent to 49 per cent and disapproval rising from 29 per cent to 44 per cent.
Speaking at Washington’s Children’s Hospital yesterday, Mr Obama described the need for healthcare reform as “urgent and indisputable”, urging Congress to move quickly to approve a measure that will provide coverage for more than 40 million uninsured Americans.
“Over the past decade, premiums have doubled in America; out-of-pocket costs have shot up by a third,” he said.
“And yet, even as America’s families have been battered by spiraling healthcare costs, health insurance companies and their executives have reaped windfall profits from a broken system.
“Now, we’ve talked this problem to death, year after year. But unless we act – and act now – none of this will change.” Congress is considering five competing healthcare bills but Republicans and conservative Democrats complain that the plans will cost too much and increase the ballooning federal deficit.
Mr Obama says that effective healthcare reform will reduce costs over time by providing a public health insurance plan to compete with private insurers and cutting the cost of drugs.
Last week, the head of the congressional budget office said none of the proposals he had seen so far fulfilled that promise, prompting some conservative Democrats to express publicly their concerns about the plans.
Mr Obama yesterday accused his critics of playing politics with an issue that affected the lives of millions of Americans and of seeking an opportunity to damage him.
“Now, there are some in this town who are content to perpetuate the status quo, are in fact fighting reform on behalf of powerful special interests. There are others who recognise the problem, but believe – or perhaps, hope – that we can put off the hard work of insurance reform for another day, another year, another decade,” he said.
“Just the other day, one Republican senator said – and I’m quoting him now – ‘If we’re able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him.’ Think about that. This isn’t about me. This isn’t about politics. This is about a healthcare system that is breaking America’s families, breaking America’s businesses and breaking America’s economy.”
The president’s battle over healthcare is reaching a crucial point amid rising public concern about the cost of his economic stimulus plan. The new poll shows that six in 10 Americans oppose additional stimulus spending, and support for Mr Obama’s handling of the economy has fallen from 72 per cent at its height to 56 per cent today.
The president still gets good marks from the public for his conduct of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and most Americans still say he is a strong leader who understands their concerns. His personal approval rating has slipped to 59 per cent – about average for recent presidents after six months in office.