Health Care Reform>Obamacare: The Tide Has Turned
BY Micah L. Sifry | Friday, November 6 2009
With the House about to vote on the Democratic health care bill tomorrow, I thought it would be interesting to check in on the pulse of the online debate over health care reform. This is of course an unscientific look at the public zeitgeist, but the popularity of certain key words on Twitter suggests that the tide has turned and anti-heath reform rhetoric has peaked, or at least isn't spreading.
Take a look at this trendline from Trendistic, looking at three terms: "obamacare", "public option" and "hcr". The first is used often by opponents of the Democrats' plans; public option is the battle-cry of the progressive base; and "hcr" is a generic tag that is mostly used by supporters of the Democratic mainstream.
The August peak on the chart is from the height of the townhall battles; the September peaks are from President Obama's joint address to Congress and more recent highpoints in the movement of legislation (the Baucus bill drop, etc). As you can see, the "Obamacare" meme has gotten weaker, not stronger, from its peak in the summer months.
There is a new meme cropping up called "killbill" which we saw jump onto the web yesterday, prompted by the House Republican rally against the bill. Here's a dynamic look at how that term is trending against "hcr".
It should be interesting to see how both terms crest tomorrow as the vote comes down in the House.