Affordable Care Act supporters at an anti-repeal rally in Los Angeles in March 2017. Photo: Ronen Tivony/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Activism and political protest is on the rise on the left in the U.S., and support for the Affordable Care Act is one of the biggest issues motivating the protesters, according to the latest survey on activism and protest by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Washington Post.
Why it matters: It's a reversal from the last election cycle, when public opinion about the ACA was more negative than positive and Tea Party protests against the ACA were commonplace. It's clear that the political energy in health is switching from right to left.
The majority of those who have rallied or protested about the ACA over the past two years say they plan to be politically active over the next year. But they're not single-minded ACA activists. Most are critical of President Trump and they have a number of interconnected issues on their minds, including the ACA.
The numbers that matter: In our survey, we found that about 50 million adults said they had gone to a rally or protest to express their views in the past two years, with about 14 million saying the ACA was a reason they were rallying. That's about 28%, similar to the shares who said the same about the environment and energy issues (32%) and immigration (30%), but behind women’s rights (46%).
The vast majority (85%) of those who say they rallied, in part, about the ACA were coming out to support the law. We conducted the survey in January and February, before the recent marches on gun violence.
People who name the ACA as a reason for their activism were more likely to say they will vote in the midterms than people who didn't go to rallies (90% vs. 57%), but it’s not so much their voting power that may matter as their personal participation in the political process. They skew older, higher income, and Democratic, and most would likely have voted anyway.
The details:
70% of those who attended rallies are anti-Trump; 30% approve of him.
Those turning out about the ACA were about twice as likely as those who turned out on other issues to say they plan to volunteer or work in a 2018 election campaign.
Activism on behalf of the ACA was not a rejection of single payer. Most demonstrators support both.
The big picture: At a time when trust in institutions is declining and many say we are wallowing in a “post-truth” society, rather than turn off and tune out, large numbers of citizens are seeing a virtue in getting out of their homes to participate in the democratic process.
President Trump views the North Korean crisis as his “great man” of history moment.
The big picture: He came into office thinking he could be the historic deal maker to bring peace to the Middle East. He’s stopped talking about that. There’s very little point. The peace deal looks dead and cremated. But Trump wants to sign his name even larger into the history books, and he views North Korea as his moment.
Sources close to him say he genuinely believes he — and he alone — can overcome the seemingly intractable disaster on the Korean Peninsula.
A source who has discussed North Korea with Trump: “He thinks, ‘Just get me in the room with the guy [Kim Jong-un] and I’ll figure it out.’”
But, but, but: His aides are much more skeptical, and some believe the idea of meeting with Kim Jong-un is naive and guaranteed to be fruitless.
Trump “definitely thinks it’s a duel of personalities,” says another source familiar with his thinking about North Korea:
“There are important strategic considerations ... but he also very much conceives it as a test of wills and of a contest of one man and another. How they’re going to react, how they’re going to shadow box with each other, and ultimately how they’re going to choose to act.”
“During the war of insults between Trump and Kim last year, Trump’s tweets and ‘little Rocket Man’ were pretty carefully calibrated — in his mind, was more intentional, not just popping off.”
“He never clearly articulated what he was trying to do. But it seemed he wanted to demonstrate he and the U.S. were unafraid, prepared to take whatever steps necessary and were willing to be direct. He wanted to show dominance over Kim.”
“This was something he took a personal interest in and was personally invested in. I’m not sure people thought it was a coherent strategy, and certainly I don’t think the Pentagon signed off on it.”
Be smart: Trump mostly projects strength internally. But there’s also been at least one quiet moment when a source saw Trump reflect on how he doesn’t know what Kim is capable of.
That happened during the escalating verbal sparring between Kim and Trump last year: “The stakes had moved so far beyond what he’s dealt with before, he definitely became aware of that.”
P.S. Trump on his planned summit with North Korea, speaking last evening at a joint press conference at Mar-a-Lago with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe:
" If we don't think it's going to be successful, ... we won't have it. ... If I think that it's a meeting that is not going to be fruitful, we're not going to go. If the meeting, when I'm there, is not fruitful, I will respectfully leave the meeting."
