ajfortin.com

We’ve been keeping our eye on this question from the ongoing Kaiser Foundation health tracking polling for some time on the public opinion about the presidential candidates and health care:

“Thinking about all the candidates for president in 2008, regardless of political party or who you intend to vote for, which candidate BEST represents your views on health care?”

The latest October poll indicates that 50 percent of respondents say that they don’t know, can’t name or none of the candidates represent their views. Now the good news — at least I think it’s good news — is that number is down from 59 percent in June indicating that a few more Americans see at least one candidate as speaking for them about health care. (23 percent say that’s Hillary).

So this little fact this may demonstrate a few things:

• Half of the public still hasn’t yet found quite the right voice speaking for them — thus having a secret undiscovered position
• They are confused or lack knowledge about the candidates’ positions
• They don’t care
• They still do not know their own mind about what to do

I go for the all of the above, especially the last one.

In any case, the candidates face the prospect of either continuing to try to stumble on the mother lode of public opinion about health care through trial and error, or, giving up on that, beating public opinion into submission through sheer ideological volume and repetition. The better course, although more difficult and risky, would be to help the public think through what it wants. That may be too much to ask, however.