There are a litany of reasons to oppose the PPACA. Opposing it doesn't make anyone dimwitted. If you were one of the 47% of republicans who thought that the bill included death panels, you unfortunately are dimwitted. It's an insane premise that becomes even more absurd when thought about for a microsecond.
Why can't the Democrats win them over with better messaging?
That's a great question, and a huge problem in politics. How do you prevent obvious lies and bullshit distractions from impacting elections? Remember Howard Dean's scream [1]? Or John Kerry's swiftboat exaggerations [2]? Or how 47% of people don't pay income taxes[3]? Or how much larger the government is under Obama[4]?
Interesting read on the scream. When I first heard it on TV, it just struck me as a goofy sounding "Yeah!"... I had a chuckle and that was that. I never understood how it got the legs it did.
[1] - http://washingtonexaminer.com/howard-deans-scream-tv-screwed... [2] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kerry_military_service_con... [3] - http://www.marketplace.org/topics/elections/campaign-trail/n... [4a] - http://research.stlouisfed.org/fredgraph.png?g=nQE [4b] - http://research.stlouisfed.org/fredgraph.png?g=nQF