The Pulse | The politics of health care
Column by Chris Graham
Health-care reform opponents speak as if it’s a given that the passage of reform including a public option and new mandates for private insurers will be an act of political suicide by Democrats.
Take comments from Bill Wilson, the president of the advocacy group Americans for Limited Government, released today on the topic of the U.S. Senate vote to move forward with debate on a reform bill under consideration in the senior chamber of Congress.
The vote was “completely out of step with public sentiment about the legislation,” said Wilson, citing a poll conducted by the right-leaning pollster Rasmussen Reports that suggests that 56 percent of likely voters now oppose the legislation. Read more
Two polls: McDonnell up 13 in Rasmussen, 18 in VCU
A new Rasmussen Reports poll has Republican gubernatorial nominee Bob McDonnell leading Democrat Creigh Deeds by a 54 percent-to-41 percent margin, and a new Virginia Commonwealth University Commonwealth Poll has McDonnell leading by a 54 percent-to-36 percent gap.
Both polls, released on Wednesday, make clear that the strategy of the Deeds campaign to hinge its chances for victory on Nov. 3 on the fallout from the controversial 1989 McDonnell grad-school thesis that blasted working women, public education and gays and lesbians, among others, has failed, and failed miserably. Read more
Gap narrows, but McDonnell still up by seven
The gap has narrowed a bit, but the latest Rasmussen Reports poll in the Virginia governor’s race still has Republican Bob McDonnell comfortably ahead of Democrat Creigh Deeds.
McDonnell has a 50 percent-to-43 percent lead over Deeds in the latest Rasmussen survey of Virginia voters, which was released Tuesday afternoon.
The McDonnell lead in the Rasmussen poll two weeks ago was 51 percent to 42 percent. Read more
Rasmussen: McDonnell 51, Deeds 42
A new poll from Rasmussen Reports has Bob McDonnell reopening a healthy lead over Creigh Deeds in the Virginia governor’s race.
The Rasmussen poll has McDonnell with a 51 percent-to-42 percent lead over Deeds. Deeds had narrowed the McDonnell lead two weeks ago to a 48 percent-to-46 percent margin. Read more
Toss-up: New poll has McDonnell-Deeds race too close to call
What was a nine-point advantage for Bob McDonnell in the Virginia governor’s race two weeks ago is now down to two, according to a new poll by Rasmussen Reports released Thursday afternoon.
The poll has McDonnell’s lead at 48 percent to 46 percent for Creigh Deeds. McDonnell led two weeks ago by a 51 percent-to-42 percent margin. Read more
A Deeds surge?
Two new polls are out on the Virginia governor’s race, and both still have Republican Bob McDonnell in the lead over Democrat Creigh Deeds, though the gap is clearly narrowing, to the point that one pollster is suggesting that Deeds could be surging into the lead.
Deeds actually led in the two days of polling done by Public Policy Polling after an article in the Washington Post detailing McDonnell’s controversial master’s degree thesis from McDonnell in which he wrote among other things that working women are “detrimental” to society appeared on Sunday, PPP communications director Tom Jensen wrote on the polling organization’s blog.
Poll: McDonnell leads Deeds by three
Republican Bob McDonnell has a three-point lead on Democrat Creigh Deeds in the 2009 Virginia governor’s race, according to a poll out today from Rasmussen Reports.
The poll has McDonnell at 44 percent and Deeds at 41 percent. Rasmussen had Deeds ahead by a 47 percent-to-41 percent margin after the June 9 Democratic Party primary. Read more
