The conventional wisdom in the media claims that Scott Brown’s victory in the Massachusetts Senate election was a revolt against Obama’s healthcare reform.
But this poll by the Washington Post of Massachusetts voters after the election asked if “one reason” for their vote was to express opposition to the Democratic agenda.
According to this poll only 35% of voters were expressing opposition to the Democratic agenda, which of course includes healthcare reform.
And although Massachusetts is a liberal state, 30% of its residents still self-identify as conservative. In other words, not only was the absolute number of people opposed to the Democratic agenda small, but virtually all of them were conservatives who have opposed the Democratic agenda from the start. There’s just no sign of a sudden tidal wave of new opposition there. This election was mostly about a bad economy and a lousy candidate, not a rebellion against healthcare reform.
I hope this poll is accurate.
