Millennials Can’t Stand Obamacare Or Its Namesake

We young people are fickle beings. One day, we’re hero-worshipping Justin Bieber for his brave commitment to repetitive four-chord pop songs, the next day, we’re abandoning him to the Canadian wilderness as we realize that he wouldn’t exist save for that country’s content laws and an unfulfilled American pre-adolescent need for pop stars with sketchy haircuts and pants that probably chafe. 

One day, we’re on board this great Obamacare crazy train, happily casting our vote for a statist in the hopes that we can finally have a President who takes our primary political concerns about health care, online privacy and knowing the full list of Grammy Award nominees seriously.

And then, the unthinkable happens. We find out that statism means when you don’t buy health care, you still have to pay the government.

People who believe in an omnipotent, centralized government don’t make citizen’s privacy rights a priority. Weird right? 

And then, one day, we’re telling a Harvard researcher that we’d prefer not to be subsumed into a government healthcare program at the behest of a man who clearly worships polyester and elastic.

The new poll shows that Obama’s approval rating with 18- to 29-year-olds now stands at 41%, a dramatic 11-point drop from April. Fifty-four percent said they disapprove of the president’s performance.

The Harvard pollsters noted that during the time they conducted their latest survey of young Americans, national polls of the general population showed that Obama’s approval rating hovered between 37% and 40%.

Support from young voters was crucial to Obama’s two successful presidential campaigns.

Perhaps more troubling for Obama, the poll showed 40% of young Americans believe Obamacare will bring worse care, 51% believe it will bring higher costs and 57% said they disapprove of the president’s signature law.

“Although Millennials have held firm in their approval of the president in past polls, we are now seeing a sea change among this critical demographic,” said Trey Grayson, director of Harvard Institute of Politics.

The realization is late in coming, but that doesn’t mean it’s not important. According to the polls, the open hatred of government-sponsored health care, which needs the support of young, healthy Millennials to survive, lest their Baby Boomer parents’ host of health problems capsize the system before the built-in insurance bailout can officially take place, is so deep that as many as 47% of those polled would consider participating in a recall election to undo the ballot they cast for Barack Obama. That makes President Obama officially less popular than hipsters, being carded, the zombie apocalypse and advice from their moms, to say the least (though Congress is still hovering at a mere 6% approval).

The financials don’t break down any better: only about 13% of Millennials polled say they’re very likely to sign up for the insurance exchanges. 41% haven’t decided yet and there’s less than two weeks to sign up. More than likely, those motivated 13% make up the top estimate of Millennials looking to pay exorbitant rates for health care they probably don’t need. 

Is this good news for liberty lovers? Maybe. The NSA squabble hasn’t helped the Administration take on a fresh wave of Millennial support and health care is eroding the ground under the existing bloc. That can’t be bad news. But liberty-minded candidates will need to take into account Millennial priorities other than libertarian positions on key elements in opposition to the current leadership and create a compelling case for any alternative, or risk the same fate as President Mom Jeans.

 

 

Photo: E-strategyblog.com 

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