It looks like Americans are not big fans of Republicans’ new health care plan.
Just 20% of voters said they approve of the new GOP health care plan, which would repeal Obamacare, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday. A majority of voters (57%) said they disapprove of the plan, which the Congressional Budget Office says would result in 23 million fewer people having health insurance by 2026.
This is the Republicans’ second attempt to make good on their years-long campaign promise of repealing and replacing former President Obama’s Affordable Care Act. House Republicans pulled the first version of their bill back in March due to a lack of support and disagreements in their caucus.
After that failure, the bill was amended to appeal to more Republicans. The current version cuts taxes on the wealthy, weakens protections for people with pre-existing conditions, rolls back the expansion of Medicaid and reduces federal assistance to low-income Americans.
In the Quinnipiac poll, nearly half (44%) of voters said they are less likely to vote for a Senator or member of Congress who supports the revised health care plan. Just 20% said they are more likely to support their Senator or Congressperson if they vote for the plan, and 31% said their representative’s view of the plan wouldn’t affect their support.
Despite the division on how the plan would affect their support for elected representatives, the majority of people surveyed (57%) said they believe fewer Americans will be covered under the new GOP health care plan. And when asked about their own costs under the new plan, 44% of voters said they expect their insurance costs to go up, compared with just 12% who said they believe their costs will go down under the new plan and 33% who said costs will stay the same.
Voters also expressed frustration with President Donald Trump in relation to the new health care bill. A full 62% said they disapproved of the way Trump is handling health care, while just 32% said they approve of how he’s doing.The Quinnipiac survey, conducted from May 17 to 23, included 1,404 voters nationwide and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3%.
Abigail Abrams