GOP has no idea how to talk about top issue for voters this November

The Republican tax scam is falling flat with voters and donors alike. And it’s now clear that the GOP lacks a message on the issue voters care about the most: health care.

A new piece in Politico observes that Democrats have the wind at their backs on health care. Meanwhile, Republicans face deserved blame for sabotaging Obamacare, and anger from their base over their epic failure to repeal it.

Unlike past congressional election cycles, Politico notes, Democrats are near-unanimously running on health care instead of away from it. The GOP, on the other hand, is trying to pin the results of its sabotage on Democrats.

Republicans “don’t have a cohesive answer to their flame-out on repeal — a failure that obliterated a reliable applause line for GOP candidates in every cycle since 2010,” Politico notes.

And that attempt to deflect blame seems highly unlikely to work out well for the GOP. Obamacare has been riding a surge in popularity since Trump took office. In fact, the law maintains a positive net approval even after continued Republican efforts to sabotage it.

And former Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price made it even easier for Democrats to make the case that Republicans have botched health care.

At a health care conference in May, Price admitted that the repeal of Obamacare’s individual mandate was the wrong move.

“There are many, and I’m one of them, who believes that that actually will harm the pool in the exchange market,” Price said. “Because you’ll likely have individuals who are younger and healthier not participating in that market, and consequently that drives up the cost for other folks within that market.”

The mandate repeal was rammed through as part of the tax scam. And it has already caused premiums to spike as much as 64 percent in Virginia. And according to one report, Republican policies could result in 90 percent increases in some states by 2021.

Thus, it’s unsurprising that voters trust Democrats over Republicans on the issue of health care. One recent poll showed a 12-point margin in favor of Democrats’ handling of the issue. Democrats also held a 10-point advantage among independents.

And 68 percent of voters who put health care as their number one issue said things in the country have “pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track.”

Republicans already knew they were in trouble heading into November. But their continual sabotage of health care shows that it can, and will, get worse for them. And having essentially no message at all to bring to the voters isn’t going to help.