Politics

Obamacare still angers conservative voters, focus groups say

Alex Pappas Political Reporter
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A year may have passed since Obamacare was passed, but conservatives are still angry as hell about it.

Expect the legislation to play a large role in the 2012 elections, according to John McLaughlin, who recently conducted a series of focus groups for the research group Resurgent Republic. The group is run by the some of the country’s best-known Republicans.

“My guess it it’s going to be a big election issue next year,” McLaughlin said in an interview. “People want control of their own health-care choices.”

The Daily Caller obtained a copy of the results, which are being released Friday, from Resurgent Republic’s latest focus groups with self-identified strong Republicans and Tea Party voters.

When it comes to President Obama’s health care law among these voters, the perception of these voters has hardly changed: the intensity remains strong and they still want it repealed, McLaughlin said.

“They’re definitely fired up,” he said. “They definitely would like an opportunity to go out and try things in the next election.” (Social Security becomes a pawn in debt talks)

McLaughlin also said these voters are overwhelmingly pessimistic about the economy and, unlike focus groups conducted last year, they don’t see an end in sight to the economic downturn.

“What’s interesting is they’re really focused on economics, they’re really focused on how bad things are,” he said. “Very pessimistic attitudes. They see it getting worse.”

Resurgent Republic, which is run by a board of directors that includes veteran GOP operative Ed Gillespie, is a 501(c)(4) organization that seeks to do on the right what the liberal group Democracy Corps has done on the left.