Wednesday Open Thread [6.17.15]

NATIONAL–PRESIDENT–REPUBLICAN PRIMARY–Monmouth University Poll: White Hot Shrieking Orb of Pure Rage* 20, Carson 11, Walker 10, Bush 9, RUbio 9, Huckabee 8, Paul 6, Cruz 5, Christie 4, Perry 4, Santorum 3, Fiorina 2, Graham 2, Trump 2, Jindal 1, Kasich 1, Pataki 0

* – Actually is Undecided.

Margaret Carlson wants Joe Biden to run for President. I personally think it is the furthest thing from his mind.

It’s hard to see how they could look at Biden and not see [a viable candidate]. In some ways, Biden is the anti-Obama, and maybe his perfect complement. The vice president has an ample gift for the kind of politics Obama can’t stomach — the shooting the breeze, the backslapping and, yes, even the shoulder squeezing. …

Not one Republican presidential candidate has his experience or his heart — nor, for that matter, does the presumptive Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton.

Jay Bookman at the Atlanta Journal Constitution looks at Jeb Bush’s blaming the Democrats for income inequality:

The shorthand economic message appears to be that “the failed tax policies, the failed regulation policies” of Democrats are the source of income inequality and reduced opportunity. The base may buy that argument, but then again, they’re presold on it. I’m not sure that’s going to sell real well with voters in general next year. After all, the policies in effect leading up to the economic collapse of 2008 — tax cuts for the rich, deregulation, etc., — surely can’t be described as Democratic, not after eight years with a Republican in the White House. (What was the president’s name back then? I’m sure somebody will remind us.)

With the Supreme Court about to decide King v. Burwell, the case that will decide whether more than six million people can keep their Obamacare insurance, a new survey from the Commonwealth Fund shows that huge majorities of people newly insured through Obamacare really like it.

Eighty-six percent of the people who are newly insured through Obamacare are very satisfied or somewhat satisfied with the coverage, whether in private plans or expanded Medicaid. A total of 91 percent are satisfied with the doctors who are covered in their plans, and nearly 70 percent have used their coverage and seen a doctor. Among them, 62 percent say they would not have been able to access or afford this coverage before the law. Those high satisfaction rates continue with the ease with which people have found care—78 percent found it easy to find a primary doctor and 60 percent got their first appointment to see that doctor within two weeks, and 53 percent of people needing to see a specialist got those appointments with in two weeks.

NATIONAL–PRESIDENT–REPUBLICAN PRIMARY–PPP: Walker 17, Bush 15, Rubio 13, Carson 12, Huckabee 11, Cruz 8, Paul 8, Fiorina 5, Christie 4.

NATIONAL–PRESIDENT–DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY–PPP: Clinton 65, Sanders 9, O’Malley 5, Chafee 4, Webb 4

NATIONAL–PRESIDENT–PPP:

Clinton 45, Bush 41
Clinton 46, Carson 43
Clinton 45, Christie 41
Clinton 48, Cruz 42
Clinton 46, Fiorina 40
Clinton 47, Huckabee 42
Clinton 47, Paul 40
Clinton 46, Rubio 43
Clinton 46, Walker 42

The most interesting thing about this PPP poll is that they asked their respondents how they voted in the 2012 election, and most good polls do do that as part of their internal demographic check, and the result in this case was Obama 48, Romney 43. Nationwide in 2012, the real election result was a 4% difference in the popular vote (Obama 51, Romney 47). So their sampling is representative, and it is showing that, plus or minus 1 or 2 points, the same polarized dynamic holds.

NEW HAMPSHIRE–PRESIDENT–DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY–Suffolk University: Clinton 41, Sanders 31, Biden 7, O’Malley 3, Chafee 1, Webb 1.

We got a race in New Hampshire.

FLORIDA–PRESIDENT–Quinnipiac:

Clinton 47, Rubio 44
Clinton 46, Bush 42
Clinton 46, Christie 35
Clinton 46, Paul 39
Clinton 49, Huckabee 38
Clinton 48, Walker 37
Clinton 48, Cruz 37
Clinton 48, Kasich 35

PENNSYLVANIA–PRESIDENT–Quinnipiac:

Rubio 44, Clinton 43
Paul 45, Clinton 44
Clinton 43, Christie 41
Clinton 46, Huckabee 39
Clinton 45, Bush 41
Clinton 46, Walker 41
Clinton 47, Cruz 40
Clinton 45, Kasich 39

OHIO–PRESIDENT–Quinnipiac:

Kasich 47, Clinton 40
Clinton 44, Christie 39
Clinton 43, Paul 43
Clinton 46, Huckabee 41
Clinton 42, Bush 41
Clinton 45, Rubio 41
Clinton 44, Walker 40
Clinton 47, Cruz 39