Poll: Public supports ‘Obamacare’ over GOP repeal bills

The Washington Post reports The Cassidy-Graham bill probably won’t become law. And more than half of America is good with that.

A new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds that more than half of Americans (56 percent) prefer Obamacare to the latest GOP plan. Only 33 percent prefer the bill that Senate Republicans, panicked by a month back home with their base and no Obamacare repeal to show, abruptly put on the table this month.

Worse for Republicans: Roughly twice as many people strongly prefer the current law to the Republicans’ plan, 42 to 22 percent.

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The Post-ABC poll described three aspects of the Cassidy-Graham proposal to voters before asking what they prefer: its elimination of the requirement for nearly all Americans to have health insurance, the phasing out of federal funds to help lower- and moderate-income people buy health insurance, and letting states replace federal rules on health coverage with their own rules.

Of course, partisanship does color the way voters see this bill. Unsurprisingly, Democrats are supportive of the current health-care law — in all, 85 percent of them prefer it to the Republican plan, with 70 percent strongly preferring it. Large majorities of urbanites, people under 40 and nonwhites also favor Obamacare to the GOP alternative.

Republicans favor the new plan by a nearly a 3-to-1 margin, 66 to 23 percent, over the current law. But note that nearly a quarter of their party doesn’t support this bill, which is the closest thing to an Obamacare repeal that Congress has seriously considered.

Republicans are trapped right where they’ve been all along: struggling to pass a bill that’s unpopular within ideologically wide wings of their party and unpopular with a sizable swath of the general public. At one point, some reputable polls found an earlier Republican health-care bill was about as popular as Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Meanwhile, Obamacare and big-government ideas like single-payer health insurance have been getting more popular.

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Public opinion didn’t stop Republicans from voting on unpopular health-care bills earlier this year. Republicans may try again early next week to pass this bill, given it’s their last chance for a while to do something on health care. It’s likelier than not it will fail, given that Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) oppose it and two other senators have serious concerns about it.

That would mean Obamacare would be the law of the land for the foreseeable future. And more than half of America is okay with that.

UPDATE: The Brookings Institution weighs in with an analysis projecting that Graham-Cassidy would cause 21 million people to lose their health coverage between 2020 and 2026. (h/t Paul waldman)

14 thoughts on “Poll: Public supports ‘Obamacare’ over GOP repeal bills”

  1. Trump on healthcare and more. He’s very upset today with black professional athletes who dislike him.

    Donald J. Trump‏Verified account @realDonaldTrump 2h2 hours ago

    …our Great American Flag (or Country) and should stand for the National Anthem. If not, YOU’RE FIRED. Find something else to do!

    Donald J. Trump‏Verified account @realDonaldTrump 2h2 hours ago

    If a player wants the privilege of making millions of dollars in the NFL,or other leagues, he or she should not be allowed to disrespect….

    Donald J. Trump‏Verified account @realDonaldTrump 8h8 hours ago

    Going to the White House is considered a great honor for a championship team.Stephen Curry is hesitating,therefore invitation is withdrawn!

    Donald J. Trump‏Verified account @realDonaldTrump 9h9 hours ago

    Alaska had a 200% plus increase in premiums under ObamaCare, worst in the country. Deductibles high, people angry! Lisa M comes through.

    Donald J. Trump‏Verified account @realDonaldTrump 9h9 hours ago

    I know Rand Paul and I think he may find a way to get there for the good of the Party!

    Donald J. Trump‏Verified account @realDonaldTrump 9h9 hours ago

    Large Block Grants to States is a good thing to do. Better control & management. Great for Arizona. McCain let his best friend L.G. down!

    Donald J. Trump‏Verified account @realDonaldTrump 9h9 hours ago

    Arizona had a 116% increase in ObamaCare premiums last year, with deductibles very high. Chuck Schumer sold John McCain a bill of goods. Sad

    Donald J. Trump‏Verified account @realDonaldTrump 10h10 hours ago

    John McCain never had any intention of voting for this Bill, which his Governor loves. He campaigned on Repeal & Replace. Let Arizona down!

    Donald J. Trump‏Verified account @realDonaldTrump Sep 22

    The greatest influence over our election was the Fake News Media “screaming” for Crooked Hillary Clinton. Next, she was a bad candidate!

    Donald J. Trump‏Verified account @realDonaldTrump Sep 22

    The Russia hoax continues, now it’s ads on Facebook. What about the totally biased and dishonest Media coverage in favor of Crooked Hillary?

    • “after the 2016 polls are not taken seriously unless they say what you want to here.”

      Once again, Captain, you hit the nail on the head. Too much manipulation of polls and just plain too darned many of them have stripped them of any validity.

  2. I remember seeing an interview with a man at a county fair somewhere in the bible belt, been a while, but he was at a table where they were signing people up for the ACA.

    And he was very excited to tell the TV news lady how proud he was that they didn’t need no Obamacare because they had the ACA.

      • “So many flag waiving conservatives are not just ignorant, but willfully so.”

        Wileybud, do you honestly think there are no ignorant leftists out there doing stupid things?

        • So many flag waiving conservatives are not just ignorant, but willfully so.”
          
          Steve, we’re talking about the willful ignorance on the right. If you want to talk about ignorance on the left then start your own comment thread.

          • “Steve, we’re talking about the willful ignorance on the right.”

            I will give you kudos for honesty, Wileybud! You acknowledge something that is rarely acknowledged here…that the left and the right are creatures born of the same mother.

          • I didn’t acknowledge anything. Just giving you a hint to stop trying to change the subject. Which went right over you.

          • “I didn’t acknowledge anything.”

            Wileybud, you did, indeed, acknowledge it. You apparently didn’t realize it,

            “Just giving you a hint to stop trying to change the subject.”

            The words you used to reprimand me were not just a hint…it was a plainly worded and clear direction to go somewhere else and start my own message thread. I appreciated your forthrightness in saying what you meant clearly. Where you went wrong was was in thinking it was a different subject rather than what it was, which was an inquiry if you were aware of the lunatic fringe on the left.

            “Which went right over you.

            Then, as in target shooting, the problem is with the shooter, not the target. Clarity in the written word rests with the writer.

    • “I remember seeing an interview with a man at a county fair somewhere in the bible belt…”

      Whoee! Them Bible belt hicks in the news sure is dum, huh?

      You made a point, Tom, of making the man out to be a hick so you could make fun of him and his “Bible belt” heritage. Why?

  3. It is time to stop the partisan b.s. and come together and craft a bipartisan solution to stabilize the Affordable Care Act. Why Republican leadership told Lamar Alexander to pick up his marbles and stop negotiating with Patty Murray is policy and political malpractice. When will the leaders of the Party of Lincoln live up to their name?

    • Bipartisanship as something deeply desired by the public is just a media talking point. What the nation’s citizens should be concerned with is good public policy, whether the policy as highly partisan or bipartisan support.

    • “When will the leaders of the Party of Lincoln live up to their name?”

      Are you seriously suggesting it is only Republicans who prevent bipatisanship from occurring? If you are, then you are wrong. The democrats have made no efforts to negotiate anything of substance with the Republicans.

      Even the most recent cooperative effort between Trump, Pelosi and Schumer to pass a funding continuence bill was met with objections and consternation by many democrats. The reasoning behind the objection was that Trump should have NO successes on his agenda, and Pelosi and Schumer had given Trump something that could be viewed as a success. That attitude hardly speaks of a willingness to support bipartisanship.

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