Voters Hate Obamacare More Than They Want Immigration Reform

In a not-totally-surprising Politico poll released Monday morning , the numbers show "mounting danger" for Democrats as we get closer to November's midterm elections. Almost 9 in 10 respondents said Obamacare would be "important" in determining their vote, and 60 percent said debate on the health care law should not be over.

Politico polled likely voters from competitive House districts across the country, and found that respondents preferred Republican candidates over Democratic candidates 41 percent to 34 percent.

While voters still care about progressive issues — 71 percent want to see sweeping immigration reform and 79 percent want tougher measures on gun purchases — Obamacare remains the deciding issue in voters' minds. This is good for Republicans, who have spent a lot of time railing against the ACA and not a lot of time figuring out how to pass immigration reform. Politico's Alexander Burns explains ,

The poll reveals that voters — even in the more conservative midterm states like Georgia and Arkansas, and tossup House districts in states such as Illinois, West Virginia and California — still lean in a liberal direction on several issues ... But none of those issues comes close to approaching health care as a major concern for midterm voters. By comparison, only 28 percent said that immigration reform was 'very important' to determining their vote, and 16 percent who said the same of male-female income disparity.

Democrats have continuously championed equal pay for women and immigration reform over the past year, but those issues just don't resonate with voters the way "death panels" do. Ed Morrisey at the conservative blog Hot Air is already celebrating : "Even if one takes this with a small grain of salt based on the composition of the sample, it’s bad news almost all the way around for Democrats. ... Democrats appear to be rolling into disaster, and the only real debate is its scope."