Scott Rasmussen combs through the health-care polling data and finds:

The most important fundamental is that 68% of American voters have health-insurance coverage they rate good or excellent. . . . Adding to President Barack Obama’s challenge as he sells health-care reform to the public is the fact that most voters are skeptical about the government’s ability to do anything well. While the president says his plan will reduce costs, 53% believe it will have the opposite effect. There’s also the reality that 74% of voters rate the quality of care they now receive as good or excellent. And 50% fear that if Congress passes health-care reform, it will lead to a decline in the quality of that care.

Now a majority also want to achieve the goal of giving “every single American quality affordable health care.” And voters remain divided on ObamaCare: “47% at least somewhat favored the plan while 49% are somewhat opposed.” But that’s not the scary part for Obama and lawmakers. Rasmussen explains:

Though voters are torn about reform, there is intensity among the opposition. Just 25% strongly favor the reform effort, while 41% are strongly opposed. And that gets back to the very first point: 68% currently have good or excellent coverage. It’s going to be hard to generate passionate support for change among this group of voters.

Those opposed to Mr. Obama’s reform appear to have momentum on their side. Polling last weekend showed that 48% of voters rate the U.S. health-care system as good or excellent. That’s up from 35% in May and up from 29% a year ago. Only 19% now rate the system as poor, down from 37% a year ago. It appears that the prospect of changing health care has made the existing system look better to a lot of people.

Beyond the intensity of the opposition and its momentum, there is also a huge partisan gap that puts congressional Democrats in a very difficult position. Currently, 76% of Democratic voters favor the health-care reform plan proposed by Mr. Obama and the congressional Democrats, and they are counting on their representatives to deliver.

But delivering for the Democratic base has the potential to hurt the party’s standing among independents. Among the unaffiliated, 35% are in favor of the Democrats’ health-care reform initiative, and 60% are opposed. Notably, just 16% of unaffiliated voters strongly favor the legislative effort; 47% strongly oppose it.

No matter how much the White House wants to believe that the level of opposition they are encountering is fake or unrepresentative, the polling data shows that they have a serious problem. Despite every available resource, a compliant media, and one-party rule, they have not made the sale. Instead, they have angered or scared many more than they have convinced. Perhaps it’s a new plan, not a negative campaign against voters and/or Republicans, that is needed.

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