Pelosi Claims Obamacare Won't Hurt Democrats in Midterm Elections

Pelosi Claims Obamacare Won't Hurt Democrats in Midterm Elections

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said she did not think the disastrous Obamacare rollout would hurt Democrats in the 2014 elections and claimed Democrats would gain more seats in the House after the midterm elections. 

“I don’t think that the… Affordable Care Act’s gonna hurt [Democrats] in [the midterm elections],” Pelosi claimed in an interview with Spanish-language television station Telemundo that aired on Sunday. 

Pelosi was asked if “Democrats who were very upset about the rollout and fear that the bad publicity” will damage their reelection chances have “something to be concerned about.” She replied that they did not have to be concerned. 

“No, I think- I think that the rollout was unfortunate. And as one who was important in terms of passing the legislation, the least we should have expected is that the technology would work,” she said. “It didn’t. It’s some turbulence we are going through. But I think that it’s ever improving. And I feel very confident that in the next few months all- this- this is similar to what happened when the Republicans passed the- Medicare prescription drug bill.”

Pelosi said the “election’s gonna be about jobs. It’s gonna be about the economy. It’s about- whether we have passed immigration.”

She also said Democrats “certainly will gain more seats.”

“It’s hard to tell 11 months away about an election. But we have the capability,” she added. “We are- fighting in- over 50 seats.  And we only need to win a third- a third of those, 17, to take back the house. I would say right now we’re very pleased with where we are.”

Pelosi made her remarks even though polls have found that President Barack Obama was losing support among his base–Democrats, Hispanics, young voters, and women–in Pelosi’s home state of California because of Obamacare. Obama won California by 23 points over Republican Mitt Romney in 2012, but his disapproval “among Hispanics has increased by 16 points, union households by 18 points, and women by 13 points” and just “one-third of California voters surveyed say the country is moving in the right direction, while 55 percent believe it is ‘seriously off on the wrong track.'”

Mark DiCamillo, director of the Field Poll, said it was “unusual” and “disturbing” that Obama’s “biggest declines over that period are coming from his base, voters he carried by a huge margin.” He said that means “more voters” may be “in play” during the midterm elections if “they’re becoming” that “disaffected.” 

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