WASHINGTON— Faced with dwindling public approval of the Affordable Care Act, the White House has stepped up efforts to rally support for the law with a full-fledged campaign that uses Facebook to rally the support of tech-savvy youth.
As President Obama proudly proclaimed Wednesday, Obamacare is now as popular among young people as the social media site Facebook.
“We now have data suggesting that the Affordable Care Act rivals Facebook in terms of its approval with young people,” the president said at a rally in Delmar, Md. “The next generation has seen the sweeping change this legislation brings, and they love it almost as much as they love their Facebook account!”
While popularity rivaling Facebook might once have been good news, recent data has shown that young people are leaving Facebook for different social media sites. Even more troubling, young people no longer support the president like they have in the past: a majority of millennials would vote to recall President Obama if they could.
“Gosh,” the president joked during his speech. “If you’d have told me back in 2010 that young people would love the Affordable Care Act second only to Facebook, I would have hired Zuckerberg to build the website.”
Reporters spoke with several young people, many of whom equated their interest in Facebook with that for Obama.
Said 16-year-old Wicomico High School student Tyler Steuben, “I’m sure it seemed like a good idea at the time, but it’s obvious to me and my friends that it isn’t what was advertised; it’s basically a huge embarrassment to the country at this point.”
“Obamacare has a lot wrong with it too,” Steuben added.
“I mean, Obama? Facebook? Please. What do you think it is, 2008?” said Bethany Aliberti, 14. “My mom uses Facebook. And my older brother voted for Obama. It’s like, ew. Use Ask.fm like a normal person.”
“Facebook? Aren’t those the guys that tried to buy Snapchat for $3 billion?” asked Matthew Pendergrass, 15, of Salisbury.
Nevertheless, the president and his team are moving full steam ahead, bolstered by the news that America’s future holds him and Facebook in equal regard.
“I was a little surprised when I was told my approval rating among young voters is only 41 percent,” Obama admitted. “I guess there are more Myspace users out there than I realized.”
