Obamacare attacked

            The government shutdown ostensibly seemed like it would have some pretty negative effects on the Republican party. Polls showed that the American people were, on the whole, frustrated with the GOP and were persuaded by anti-Republican rhetoric in wake of the shutdown. This extended to Representative Frelinghuysen. The Huffington Post published an article on 10/24 titled “Meet the 37 House Republicans Who Could Lose Their Jobs For Shutting Down the Government.”[1] Sure enough, Frelinghuysen was number 19 on the list. This claim was supported by a poll in New Jersey’s 11^th district after the shutdown that displayed some potentially disastrous data for Frelinghuysen’s electoral prospects. One of the questions on the poll was, “If the election for Congress were held today, would you vote to re-elect Republican Rodney Frelinghuysen, or would you vote for his Democratic opponent?” The result surely alarmed Frelinghuysen’s camp; 47% of the poll’s vote went to a Democratic opponent, while Frelinghuysen garnered only 42% of the vote.[2] When told that Mr. Frelinghuysen voted for the government shutdown, the percentage of those polled who said they would support the Democratic candidate rose to 50%.

However, evidence might suggest that the electoral Gods spun the repercussions of Democratic legislation in the favor of the GOP. The numerous technical problems with healthcare.gov and the ensuing public backlash have provided the GOP with an excellent opportunity to attack the Democrats. Since the shutdown ended, the GOP has engaged in a heavy attack on Obamacare and the Democrats, taking back some of the electoral favor that they lost during the shutdown.

Seemingly taking the cue from the rest of his party, Frelinghuysen’s weekly newsletters to his constituents over the past two weeks have employed heavy anti-Obamacare rhetoric. Some of the subtitles of sections of the newsletter include titles such as “Obamacare website security called ‘outrageous’”, “Serious pricing problem with Healthcare.gov”, “Thousands in NJ can’t keep Health Coverage”, and “Worries about Healthcare.gov Security: Personal Health Data.”[3] The newsletter also includes links to anti Obamacare press, such as an editorial in the Wall Street Journal titled “The Obamacare Awakening, Americans are losing their coverage by political design.”[4]

So in sum, what is clear is that Mr. Frelinghuysen is following partisan strategy. The entire Republican party is trying to regain its footing in the public eye through an attack on Obamacare; Mr. Frelinghuysen is clearly trying to communicate this message to his constituency.

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[1] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/24/house-republicans-2014-elections_n_4152818.html

[2] http://s3.moveon.org/shutdownpolling/nj11results.pdf

[3]http://frelinghuysen.congressnewsletter.net/mail/util.cfm?gpiv=2100109716.179229.5&gen=1

[4]http://frelinghuysen.congressnewsletter.net/mail/util.cfm?gpiv=2100109454.180052.791&gen=1