2014: Democrats’ Disaster?

The numbers look very bad and they may get worse.

If a panic button existed in the offices of vulnerable Democrats in Congress right now, they might be pressing it so often it wouldn’t have time to reset.

A new CNN poll this week found that support for Obamacare is down to an all-time low of 35 percent. That helps explain the dramatic partisan reversal in another question CNN asked — about which party respondents would vote for in their congressional district. Two months ago, Democrats had a 50–42 percent lead on that critical “generic ballot” question. Now, Republicans have taken a 49–44 lead. Other private polls taken in the last few days confirm the trend of the CNN poll.

Of course, Democratic leaders insist that Obamacare won’t hurt their party in the 2014 elections. House speaker Nancy Pelosi told a conference call with reporters this week that the bill she once said had to be passed “so that you can find out what is in it” was “worth the trouble, it’s going to be a glorious thing.” She insisted it would help Democrats pick up House seats next year.

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