The U.S. Chamber of Commerce — which is perhaps Washington, D.C.’s most powerful corporate front group — is up with a new ad attacking Tammy Baldwin. Although the ad is riddled with misleading claims, perhaps the most bizarre one is that Baldwin supported the “wildly unpopular public option.”

 

 

 

 

Watch the ad:

It is true that Baldwin was a strong supporter of the public option (she also supports Medicare for All). The bizarre part of this statement is to claim that the public option was “wildly unpopular.” Here’s some polling that says the opposite:

• The New York Times/CBS News Poll:Ai??This 2009 poll found that 72 percent of Americans backed a public option in health care. Additionally, the poll found that 50 percent of self-identified Republicans backed this health care option.
• The Washington Post/ABC News Poll: This 2009 polling concluded that 57 percent of Americans back a public insurance option.
• The SurveyUSA Poll: This 2009 polling found that 77 percent of Americans backed the “choice” of a public insurance option.

Keep in mind that all of this polling was taken during the national debate over the health care bill, when health reform efforts were most unpopular. There hasn’t been any prominent polling about the public option lately, but it is likely that it is even more popular now.

So then why is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce attacking Baldwin on this issue? Just follow the money.

The Chamber famously does not disclose its donors. But sometimes, it slips up. Bloomberg and National Journal both engaged in investigative reporting that concluded that health insurance companies gave more than $100 million to the Chamber between 2009 and 2010. With that kind of dough, the Chamber has an incentive to make misleading claims about a policy the industry worked very hard to kill.

Join PCCC’s Medicare for All campaign by clicking here.