It Could Cost the Republicans in the Midterms –
Trump as the Grinch who stole Christmas: NAJ screen shot
The Big Picture –
By Glynn Wilson –
COULTERVILLE, Calif. – It’s beginning to look a lot like a sad Christmas indeed, especially for Democrats with SNAP benefits and Obamacare and Republicans who want to get reelected next year.
Grinch in chief Donald Trump and his minions of MAGA elves now in control of what’s left of the United States federal government want to cut all federal money to help poor Democrats eat and have health care. But polls are already showing that many of the people who voted to put them into power are not inclined to vote for them again, especially Latino voters.
A new poll just out shows voters plan to punish congressional Republicans in next year’s midterm elections if expanded Obamacare insurance subsidies are allowed to expire at the end of December.
Without the extension of larger subsidies, which lower the cost of health insurance under the Affordable Care Act for millions of Americans, many people will see their health expenses rise by about $1,000 next year. Among those facing the increase, most say they would blame Trump and Republicans in Congress, according to the poll conducted by KFF, a nonprofit health policy research group.
About half of people covered by Obamacare who are registered to vote said such an increase would have a “major impact” on how or whether they vote in the 2026 midterms, according to the survey.
The Senate is expected to vote sometime before the end of the month on whether to extend the subsidies, but as of this deadline, it was unclear whether there was enough Republican support for continuing to fund the program, according to reporting from the New York Times.
Trump was allegedly considering throwing his support behind an extension, a White House official said recently, but he had made no public announcement as of this writing.
Without the additional subsidies, which were first extended during the Covid pandemic, many people will see their annual premiums more than double next year to $1,900 from an average of around $890.
Concerns about health care affordability cross party lines. Many people are already struggling with the cost of monthly insurance premiums and high out-of-pocket medical costs, and are worried about their ability to pay more for their health care next year. Roughly six in 10 people surveyed said they could not afford an increase of $300 a year in insurance without it significantly affecting their finances.
Extending the Obamacare subsidies was a key issue in the recent 43-day government shutdown, during which Democrats insisted they must be continued and Republicans refused to commit while the government was closed.
KFF surveyed people who purchased coverage under the Affordable Care Act at the beginning of open enrollment for health insurance for 2026. About a quarter of those surveyed said they would be “very likely” to go without health insurance next year if their premiums rose significantly. That group includes low-income Americans who do not pay premiums for their current Obamacare plan but would have to pay $50 monthly next year. Others said they would shop for a new plan or look for a different job.
Of those surveyed who identified as Republicans, two-thirds said they would blame congressional Democrats if the subsidies expired, while those who identified as Democrats overwhelmingly blamed Republicans. Republicans and Republican-leaning independents who said they did not support the right-wing MAGA movement said they would blame Trump or congressional Republicans.
The survey also underscored how little confidence people have in lawmakers’ ability to address the high cost of health insurance. About half of those polled said they had little or no faith in congressional Democrats, while about two-thirds said they had no or not much confidence in Trump or congressional Republicans.
Meanwhile according to the Gallup poll, U.S. consumers are expressing increased concern about the economy and jobs, and data shows sharply lower holiday spending estimates than previously forecast. Forty percent of consumers now rate current economic conditions as poor, and 68 percent say they believe the economy is getting worse.
Along with their heightened economic anxiety, consumers expressed much less of an appetite for holiday gift spending compared with earlier in the season, Gallup reports. Americans now estimate they will spend an average $778 on Christmas or other holiday gifts, down $229 from October’s $1,007. The figure is also significantly below last year’s November estimate of $1,012.
So the bottom line is: “Consumer attitudes about the job market and overall economy slipped in November to their worst levels in over a year, seemingly chilling their gift-buying mood,” Gallup reports. “Though now over, the protracted government shutdown, which delayed pay for federal workers and disrupted key benefit programs, likely contributed to the dampened mood.”
No doubt, especially for many National Park Service Rangers who have so far not received the back pay they are promised under the law. Trump threatened to withhold back pay even though that would be against the law and certainly make him look like the Grinch Who Stole Christmas.
Of course in the book and the movie, the Grinch repented and gave everything back. Trump is not the kind of guy who ever apologizes or takes anything back. So don’t expect any help from the White House or the North Pole this year.
The billion dollar question is, will his supporters care?
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Originally written as a syndicated column for The Progressive Populist newspaper.
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