An agent from Sunshine Life and Health Advisors helps sign people up for insurance under the Affordable Care Act in Miami. Although 8 million have signed up, new polls show the health care law remains a net negative for many Americans. Photo by Joe Raedle\/Getty Images <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Today in the Morning Line: <\/p>\n
Back to October: After the news of the 8 million health care sign-ups, Democrats last week were feeling a little better about their prospects for the midterm elections. Polls out this week remind them of reasons to worry. The NBC News\/Wall Street Journal poll released Wednesday has less dire numbers than the ABC News\/Washington Post poll released Tuesday, showing President Barack Obamas approval and health care ratings at six-month highs, but they still arent great for the presidents party. Mr. Obamas approval is up three points to 44 percent and his favorability ratings are now a net-positive 44 percent to 41 percent for the first time since early October (before the health care website debacle). He appears to have put the skids on the potential slide into an approval rating in the 30s like George W. Bush suffered at this time in his presidency. The health care law remains a net-negative 36 percent to 46 percent, which is actually a slight improvement from last month. Democrats are taking some solace in 48 percent saying the health law is either working well or needs minor modifications versus 49 percent who say it needs a major overhaul or should be eliminated. Thats up from 40 percent to 47 percent in December. The congressional ballot, however, shows Democrats and Republicans tied at 45 percent. As we pointed out Tuesday, Democrats generally have to do better than that to make gains in the House, especially because of the GOP tilt of the playing field. And among the voters with the highest interest in the midterms, Republicans lead by 15 points, 53 percent to 38 percent. Overall, its like the difference between from being five runs down, to one or two, Democratic pollster Peter Hart, who helps conduct the poll, told NBCs Mark Murray. <\/p>\n
The importance of young voters: Speaking of Democrats with lower interest in the election, a Harvard Millennials poll released Tuesday showed young voters interest lagging even behind 2010. Thats a big potential potential problem for Democrats, because young voters, like women and minority voters, are a key plank for them to win elections. And just like minority voters, young voters are less likely to turn out in midterms. For example, as a share of the electorate, voters age 18 to 29 were seven points lower in the 2010 midterms than the 2012 presidential election. And they voted less Democratic in 2010 than 2012. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Obama, Democrats coordinate minimum wage push: President Obama and congressional Democrats will team up Wednesday to call for raising the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 an hour, part of the partys broader push to highlight economic inequality ahead of the November election. The president is scheduled to address the issue from the White House at 3:10 p.m. ET, which will likely come after a Senate vote to advance a wage hike proposal. Like previous attempts, that effort is expected to fail due to GOP opposition. In advance of the presidents remarks, House Speaker John Boehners office is pushing back on Democratic claims about the economic benefits of a wage hike. They point to the Congressional Budget Office estimate that raising the minimum wage could cost the economy 500,000 jobs. Democrats, of course, will tout the same report, which also shows that 900,000 people would be lifted out of poverty. By the way, Hawaii late Tuesday voted to raise the states minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. And this will play in at least one key state Arkansas, which will have a minimum wage increase on the ballot that incumbent Sen. Mark Pryor backs. <\/p>\n
Immigration reform in 2014? Nevermind: Less than a week after mocking fellow GOP lawmakers for their refusal to tackle immigration reform during a speech in Ohio, Speaker Boehner looked to clean up what he called a misunderstanding over his comments. At a closed-door meeting Tuesday, Boehner assured his colleagues there is no secret conspiracy to jam through an immigration plan this year. Boehner also told reporters that some people misunderstood what I had to say, and he again blamed the lack of trust in the president as the main obstacle to getting legislation passed. The comments would appear to take the wind out of the sails of those hoping to move forward with an overhaul this year. The odds were always long in an election year, but Boehners comments last week, combined with his earlier statement that he was hell-bent on passing reform this year and some GOP rank-and-file voicing support for action, made it seem like there was movement in that direction. Louisiana Rep. John Fleming told the NewsHour that Boehner doubled down on the partys existing position, which is that Republicans would not move forward until the president gets right with this. But Florida Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, who is leading the GOP effort behind the scenes, said he thought most lawmakers wanted to fix the problem. After Tuesdays public and private comments from Boehner, its hard to see that happening before November. <\/p>\n
Quote of the day: Today, 50 Cents is a singing group. Am I right about that? Sen. Barbara Boxer, on the Senate floor (not in da club), talking about earning $.50 per hour as a teenager during remarks Tuesday in support of raising the federal minimum wage <\/p>\n
Daily Presidential Trivia: On this day in 1789, George Washington took office as the first U.S. president. How many people ran against Washington & what percentage of the vote did he receive? Be the first to Tweet us the correct answer using #PoliticsTrivia, and youll get a Morning Line shout-out. A belated congrats to Graham Morris (@GrahamHMorris) for guessing the right answer to Mondays trivia question. <\/p>\n
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Health care law not quite yet what the doctor ordered for Democrats<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" An agent from Sunshine Life and Health Advisors helps sign people up for insurance under the Affordable Care Act in Miami. Although 8 million have signed up, new polls show the health care law remains a net negative for many Americans. Photo by Joe Raedle\/Getty Images Today in the Morning Line: Back to October: After the news of the 8 million health care sign-ups, Democrats last week were feeling a little better about their prospects for the midterm elections. Continue reading