Attack of the Killer Hipsters

Paul Krugman, NYT

Jonathan Chait has an excellent survey of the current state of the battle for health reform. Among other things, it drives home the extent to which — despite all the glitches likely in the first few months — this is now being fought on favorable terrain for the reformers.

Never mind the polls showing approval of Obamacare moving one way or the other; they are all being taken in an environment where people are amazingly ignorant about the law, with a large minority believing that it has been repealed. What matters is how the thing works — and that, in turn, depends crucially on sufficient numbers of young, currently uninsured people signing up for the exchanges. Advocates will try to get those people signed up; Republicans will try to convince them not to. So how are the two sides’ chances.

Well, let’s think about who we’re talking about: Young. Currently uninsured, which generally means not very affluent, and also tends to mean nonwhite more than average.

In other words, basically the opposite of the profile of Tea Party backers. Also, by the way, more or less the opposite of midterm voters.

(More here.)