How many who don't like Obamacare don't think it goes far enough?

By Richard K. Barry 

An ABC News/Washington Post poll came out recently detailing voter response to the Supreme Court's decision on Obama's health care law. 43 percent of Americans found the ruling favourable and 42 unfavourable.

What I found more interesting was this section of the report as described in The New York Times:

And while Americans are also divided over President Obama's plans for health care, with 45 percent finding his plans favorable and 48 percent unfavorable, fewer approve of Mitt Romneys health care plans. Just 3 in 10 Americans express a positive view of Mr. Romney's health care plans, while nearly half say they find his plans unfavorable, and nearly a quarter are unsure.

From the beginning of the health care debate, a measurable cohort rejected Obama's plan from the left. They either thought the mandate was a windfall for insurance companies or that a single-payer system was a better way to go. In other words, some people prefer that the government actually run the health-care system as has been done pretty well in places like Canada for years. In this way, health care is paid for out of the tax base. (Take a deep breath. It's not that scary.)

I'd be curious to know if pollsters are bothering to ask the 48 percent of Americans who view Obama's plan unfavourably why they don't like it. Is it possible that for some of them it's not liberal enough, that they want the government to play an even bigger role? Given that only 3 in 10 view Romney's plan, whatever that is, favourably, isn't it possible that a clear majority don't like the rugged individualist, let-the-uninsured-die approach to health-care access.

It's not that hard to ask the question. To be clear, being against what Romney proposes is not the same as being for what Obama proposes and vice versa. There really are other options, though we seem to go out of our way to reject that possibility. America: a land where you can have whatever you want as long as you don't mind only having two choices. Ah, freedom.

(Cross-posted at Lippmann's Ghost.)