It’s safe to say that Gov. Scott Walker is having a very bad week as he seeks the Republican presidential nomination. He staked out a number of positions on birthright citizenship, all of them proving that he has no idea what he’s talking about when he isn’t being spoon-fed talking points. And the latest Marquette University Law School poll shows that his support back home is falling. The poll showed that he has a weak 39% approval rating in Wisconsin with 57% disapproving of his performance as governor.
The Marquette poll also showed that he is on the wrong side of public opinion on Wisconsin’s job-creation performance, the state budget, his $250 million cut to the University of Wisconsin System, same-sex marriage, providing a path to citizenship for immigrants and applying strict limits on carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants. Walker can’t even convince Wisconsinites that he cares about “someone like them,” a fatal blow for a preacher’s son who brags about brown bagging it to work and buying a $1 sweater at Kohl’s.
Perhaps Walker thought he could impress voters and the media with his health care reform proposal. But instead of glowing headlines he got yet more criticism heaped on him. That criticism is well deserved, because his national proposal is as bad as his version of health care reform in Wisconsin. If elected president, Walker would repeal the Affordable Care Act on “day one,” then push various reforms that wouldn’t improve our health care system at all. According to an analysis by Citizen Action of Wisconsin, Walker’s plan would immediately force millions of Americans off of their own health care coverage “without providing any viable alternative.” Walker would nix existing consumer protections and repeal the popular Obamacare provision that allows young adults up to age 26 to be covered by their parents’ health insurance policy. Even worse, Walker’s plan eliminates subsidies based on income level and replaces them with subsidies based on age. That means that a millionaire would receive the same tax perk as someone their age who is struggling to get by. Of course, Walker provides no funding mechanism for his plan and of course his plan would favor the wealthiest Americans and irresponsible health insurance companies.
Walker’s having a tough time on the national campaign trail, no doubt because his agenda isn’t popular, doesn’t work in the real world and would unfairly punish those who need the most help while rewarding those who have already reaped rich rewards.
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