Conservatives Have Already Lost The SCHIP Debate

To turn the public against expanding the State Children's Health Insurance Program, conservatives tried to spread misinformation [1], intimidate kids and their parents [2], and make bizarre attempts at humor [3].

None of it has worked.

A new poll and analysis [4] from the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Harvard School of Public Health and National Public Radio finds:

...strong majority support for the reauthorization and expansion of SCHIP...

Given the basic parameters of the expansion – its cost, the number of new children who would be covered, and how it would be paid for – seven in ten Americans say they back the plan.

This asking was followed by a version of the question that provided proponents’ and opponents’ strongest arguments. Even when presented with these pros and cons, support stays at 65 percent.

Though the partisan divide on SCHIP is certainly large, there is a good deal more bipartisanship here than on issues such as Iraq. Democrats overwhelmingly favor the reauthorization: 82 percent before hearing the pro and con arguments, and 80 percent even after hearing them...

...Independents also weigh in with majority support: 69 percent would back it (dropping only 3 points after hearing the arguments).

Instead of being the usual mirror-image of Democrats, Republicans are very divided on the SCHIP issue: a narrow majority (54 percent) say they support the expansion when asked a straight up or down question, while 41 percent are opposed. This narrow divide deepens a bit – to 47 percent support, 45 percent oppose – after hearing the arguments on both sides...

...Bush’s veto of the reauthorization is not popular: two in three oppose it, including half who say they “strongly disapprove”. Nearly two in three also want to see Congress vote to overturn the veto.

In other words, the lies and smears pushed by conservative talk radio and blogs only made a dent among a few Republicans.

Why are aren't conservative arguments making any headway? The analysis continues:

It’s worth noting that the SCHIP debate takes place in a general climate where two in three Americans (67 percent) think that the government is doing “too little” in providing health insurance to children who don’t have it. This includes a majority among men and women, among every age group, and among every income group.

Even if the House conservative minority succeeds in sustaining Bush's veto, they only will have succeeded in denying health insurance to millions of kids. They still will have failed to change public opinion on SCHIP or the larger health care crisis.

But they will have succeeded in one other thing: reminding Americans why conservatism has failed our country in this young century, and giving us more reason to replace this bankrupt ideology as soon as possible.