We are in a polling drop off. The Republican Primary is ongoing, but with Romney the presumptive nominee, not many polling outfits are spending the money on the remaining primaries. The big remaining primary contests, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, will get polled as the dates of those primaries gets closer.
REPUBLICAN PRIMARY — PRESIDENT
NATIONAL (Gallup Tracking): Romney 39, Santorum 27, Gingrich 14, Paul 9
CALIFORNIA (USC/L.A. Times): Romney 42, Santorum 23, Gingrich 12, Paul 10
GENERAL ELECTION — PRESIDENT
NATIONAL (Rasmussen Tracking): Obama d. Romney (46-43); Obama d. Paul (44-39); Obama d. Santorum (49-41); Obama d. Gingrich (50-38)
NATIONAL (Suffolk University): Obama d. Romney (47-37-7); Obama d. Santorum (49-35-7); Obama d. Gingrich (50-31-11); Obama d. Paul (49-28-12)
CALIFORNIA (USC/L.A. Times): Obama d. Romney (57-36); Obama d. Paul (59-31); Obama d. Santorum (61-32); Obama d. Gingrich (62-30)
Yesterday’s oral arguments were simply the opening act in the Supreme Court’s consideration of President Obama’s signature health-care law. But today’s discussion — over whether or not the individual mandate to purchase health insurance is constitutional — is the main event. And there’s plenty of irony (and even hypocrisy) on this issue. After all, it was then-candidate Barack Obama who railed against the individual mandate, which was supported by Hillary Clinton. What’s more, the individual mandate was once a conservative-leaning idea (championed by the Heritage Foundation, Newt Gingrich and, yes, Mitt Romney).
The final bit of irony: Only a small percentage of the public would even be subject to the individual mandate, if it’s found to be constitutional. A new Urban Institute study finds, per Huffington Post, that 98% of Americans ‘would either be exempt from the mandate — because of employer coverage, public health insurance or low income — or given subsidies to comply.’ So there you have it, folks: The central issue before the Supreme Court was once opposed by Obama, supported by conservatives and Republicans, and won’t even affect most Americans.