This is a remarkable shift in the polling: “A majority of Virginians oppose using federal Medicaid funds to expand health coverage, according to a new poll that finds public opinion has rapidly soured on Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s top priority. The Wason Center at Christopher Newport University poll found that 53 percent of the state’s voters oppose enrolling more Virginians in the federal-state health program for the poor, a sharp reversal from February, when the center found that 56 percent backed expansion.” The basic problem is that when Terry McAuliffe ran for Governor of Virginia he promised to push Medicaid expansion if it meant starting a budget crisis. McAuliffe got elected: he pushed Medicaid expansion; Virginia is getting ready to have a budget crisis.

And Virginians aren’t actually happy about that: “Sixty-five percent said both parties would be equally responsible, and 78 percent said McAuliffe would share some or a lot of the blame.” What McAuliffe is currently discovering here is that that sort thing translates to the electorate is going to be equally mad at one specific person, and an entire group of people who are all worthless anyway (except for their own representatives). Guess who ends up with the bigger headache?

Via Hot Air: Erika Johnsen also notes that Terry McAuliffe is largely heeding the desires of the President, here.  Now, I will admit that an uncritical willingness to follow the whims of the head of your party is considered a positive trait by the Democratic party.  It is, however, a good deal less attractive a quality when displayed by the Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia. I also suspect that the 2016 Democratic nominee for President will be just as happy not to have this be a festering sore of a local issue…

Moe Lane (crosspost)