Karl Rove Bungles Poll Numbers On Obamacare

Fox News contributor and Republican strategist Karl Rove misreported Gallup poll data on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in order to attack health care reform as a liability for Democrats in the 2014 midterm elections. In fact, the Gallup poll Rove cited found that the majority of respondents said the ACA has had no effect on them or their families, and 16 percent of respondents said the law helped.

In his October 22 Wall Street Journal column, Rove claimed that the ACA “is re-emerging as a major liability for the Democratic Senate” heading into the November 4 elections. Citing an October 2 poll by Gallup, Rove alleged that 54 percent of Americans “said the Affordable Care Act had hurt them and their families, compared to 27% who said it had helped them.”

But according to Gallup, a majority of Americans (54 percent) believe that Obamacare has “had no effect” on them or their families, and another 16 percent believed that the ACA has helped:

Rove also used his platform to misleadingly stoke fears about higher premiums and insurance cancellations in Colorado -- a state his political action committee (PAC), American Crossroads has invested nearly $500,000 in negative advertisements against incumbent Colorado Sen. Mark Udall (D).  And though the Journal disclosed his affiliation with American Crossroads, it did not disclose his affiliation with Crossroads GPS, a PAC that has invested more than $8.6 million attacking Sen. Udall according to Open Secrets.

In reality, Colorado has benefited greatly from health care reform.  According to the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, Colorado's uninsured rate fell from 17.0 percent in 2013 to 11.0 percent by mid-2014. The state's success in expanding health insurance coverage actually beats the national average, which fell from 18.0 in the third quarter of 2013 to just 13.4 percent a year later: