“ Reform’ Bill's likely legacy
We can't say with assurance that the Kansas-Nebraska Act was unpopular — Gallup didn't start polling until 81 years later. But the results of the next election were pretty convincing: The Republican Party was suddenly created to oppose the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and the 1854-55 elections transformed the Democrats’ 159-71 majority to a 108-83 Republican margin. Democrats didn't win a majority of House seats for the next 20 years.
On the health-care bill, there can be little doubt about public opinion. Quinnipiac, polling just after the Senate voted cloture, found Americans opposed by a 53 percent to 36 percent margin. Polls suggest that Democrats may suffer as much carnage in the 2010 elections as they did in 1854.
Nor did the Kansas-Nebraska Act settle the issue it addressed. Pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers fought it out in “bleeding Kansas,” and Douglas felt obliged to break with the Democratic administration and disown election-stealing by the pro-slavery side"
Yes, but K-N was resolved not at the ballot box but by a war. Big difference today: there are not two “sections.” The integrated nature of the country means that big-government types are everywhere.