Why today was a good day for Barack Obama.

Every day until the election, Slate will offer up one reason to be optimistic for your candidate.

40 days to go:

Today’s Good News for Obama: Seven in 10 Americans assume the Affordable Care Act will go into effect—whether they like it or not. Considering Romney promises to repeal all or most of the law on his first day in office, these numbers indicate that Americans—and many conservatives—are slowly resigning themselves to the real possibility that a Romney presidency will never happen. Only 12 percent of those polled believe Obamacare will be repealed in its entirety, even though a mere 32 percent of Americans actually support the law. In spite of its divisiveness, the health care issue has taken a back seat on the campaign trail, and it’s looking like an increasingly settled issue. To Obama, this might also look like an increasingly settled election.

See Barack Obama’s earlier rays of hope.

See Mitt Romney’s earlier rays of hope.