Only 17% of Americans support Senate’s GOP health care bill, poll shows
The support for the Senate’s GOP health care bill is so low it makes President Trump’s approval ratings look good, a new poll shows.
Only 17% of Americans approve of the Republican health care bill that has been held up in the Senate after failing to win over its own party, according to an NPR/PBS Newshour/Marist survey released Wednesday.
Fifty-five percent of the 1,205 people polled said they disapprove of the bill, and 25% said they hadn’t heard enough about it to form an opinion.
“With numbers like these, it's not surprising the Republican leadership in Congress is having a difficult time building consensus,” said Lee Mirningoff, the director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion.
The Senate bill had already faced opposition from some Republican senators before the Congressional Budget Office this week estimated it would rob 22 million people of health insurance over the next decade if enacted.
So far, at least six Republican senators have said they will vote against the bill — more than enough to stop it from passing. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday delayed the vote that he had hoped to hold before the July 4 congressional recess.
The poll shows that Republican voters, too, are not swayed by the Senate bill. Only 35% of them approved of it, while 21% disapproved.
Democrats, meanwhile, gave it 78% disapproval and 8% approval.
For alternatives to the bill, the most popular option in the poll is to stick with the Affordable Care Act — also known as Obamacare — but change it to be more comprehensive. Forty-six percent of all respondents favored that option, including 64% of Democrats and 23% of Republicans.
Republicans most strongly approved of completely repealing Obamacare, with 53% favoring that path. Some of the Republican senators who opposed the bill said they did so because it does not go far enough on Trump’s promises to fully repeal his predecessor's signature health care overhaul.
Ironcially, overall support for leaving Obamacare untouched is 17% — just as low as the support for the GOP’s proposed solution.
The health care battle has conincided with Trump's approval ratings dropping to record lows in several polls, as he struggles to pass promised legislation while combating the federal Russia investigations. But only 15% of people in the poll said they would blame Trump personally if the health care repeal fails. Most people, 37%, would blame Republicans in Congress.
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Seven years in the making and they produce another ''weener''.
Yeah there's a lot of us that support Rand in wanting a full repeal.
I'm sure there are Dean. But better heads will prevail. Hopefully it will end up without tax breaks for the wealthy, improved Obamacare with better benefits and best of all increased taxes for the whiners.
A bill with only 17% of public support should never come up for a vote.
Two more polls came out with their results on this.
One at 16% the other at 12%....17% seems to be the high mark...Well there is always a Fox poll that will probably hit 25% or more. I'll have to check that one out.
“The preferences of the average American appear to have only a minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy."
''Congress doesn't care what you think''....That's interesting, I would guess that doesn't exist with the current health care situation. I think that would be a good test case for the article.
There is an old saying that ''all politics are local.'' I think that is one thing that we might be seeing when the congressman go back home with this hanging over there heads.
I'm listening to Rep. Peter King R-NY who is listening to his constituents and is holding out on the current bill. Same with Dean Heller R-NV and some others.
Here is a link to a counter article.
OK I didn't want to make this personal because I figured rational thought would work, but some people have no soul, so here goes.
I have a step-daughter. She is 45 years old. However she is the mental age of about 10 years old. Her name is Lisa and she is one of the loves of my life. When I had children myself I had 4 sons and I do love them, but I always secretly hoped for a daughter. Lisa is my daughter. When you are with her for less then a minute you are not with a 45 year old woman, you are with a 9 or 10 year old girl. She is the little girl I always wanted. She lives semi-independently in an apartment complex in Hartford Connecticut. She has another semi-independent roommate and is checked in on daily and even has a part time job assembling hypodermic needles and IV bags. This is made possible because of Medicaid. Without Medicaid she would have to move back into an institution where she would be housed in a ward, with a bed in a large room with about 20 other women like her where they would share the same TV and cafeteria, instead of her being able to watch her Red Sox on her TV and make her own meals. She would have no job. No real outside contact. The difference in her where she is at is impossible to describe. She has blossomed. She has come out and become herself. The quality of her life is indescribably better. If the Senate/House Bill passes that all goes away. We have offered to have her move in with us, but like in the movies she reacts almost violently to not being independent now that she has experienced it for the last 10 years or so. If she has to go back to an institution they will have to put her in restraints. If she moves in with us for the first several months she will be suicidal. We will gladly take her in to live with us and deal with it and we have the room, but we need professional help to help us deal with her. A professional therapist to help us work with her, but that will be cut out too. I am literally begging the Senate NOT to pass this Bill for Lisa's sake! The idea of her in restraints, screaming, is too heartbreaking for her mother and I! Don't they understand that real people are at stake here? This is not a game or just moving money around! Lisa is at stake her and she is a real person and we love her!
I have a half sister. Her name is Margie. Her husband beat her so badly that she was in the hospital for nearly a month and he was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to 10 years with no parole. Now he is out. She has PTSD so badly that loud sounds make her cringe. She sees a therapist once a week and will be on medication the rest of her life. She is also on Medicaid and, as long as it is available, she always will be. He has said he will hunt her down and kill her and she is convinced he will. She will never be able able function in normal society again. She will never be able to work or support herself again. Her life is filled with terror of dying and no amount of therapy will ever be able to stop that. This bill passes she will likely be cut loose and end up on the street. She refuses to leave Michigan or we would help her, but she needs to be on her "home turf" to feel like she has a chance to live. This bill is Margie's bill. This bill is my step-daughters and my half sisters bill. It is a bill that is real to real human beings. It is not some far away concept of some people that you don't know that might be affected and that's OK because they don't affect your life. This Bill affects my step daughter's and my half-sister's life in profound ways. It hurts them and it might kill them This bill is Lisa's and Margie's Bill. They are real people. The are actual human beings. This bill will fuck them up. They are not just numbers who would lose their Medicaid. They exist.
One line said it all Randy....These are real people, not numbers. I wish that the politicians that want to destroy the help people are given would have to live their life just for a day/week/month. I'm sure that their holier then thou attitude would change in a minute.