MORE EVIDENCE OF HEALTH CARE REFORM’S INCREASING SUPPORT…. We’re not yet at the point at which we can characterize the Affordable Care Act as “popular,” but for the first time in a long while, there’s a fair amount of evidence that supporters out number opponents.
The health-care overhaul gained popularity from May to June, according to a new tracking poll.
The results suggest that the Obama administration’s promotion of the legislation may be paying off or that the public may be warming to the law as early provisions take effect.
The Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that 48 percent of the public had a favorable view of the law in June while 41 percent had an unfavorable opinion. A month earlier, the split was 41 percent favorable to 44 percent unfavorable.
What’s especially noteworthy here is that it’s not just one poll pointing to the encouraging trend. Two weeks ago, a national Associated Press-GfK poll found that support for the Affordable Care Act was not only the rise, but had reached new heights — health care reform’s supporters outnumbered opponents, 45% to 42%. A week later, a Gallup poll found 49% of respondents agreeing that passage of the law is a “good thing,” while 46% think it’s a “bad thing.”
In fairness, not all of the polls reach this conclusion. The latest NBC/WSJ poll found the public leaning in the other direction, 44% to 40%, though even here, support was on the rise.
But there are nevertheless three credible, national polls out this month showing supporters outnumbering opponents. Throughout the debate on the Hill, that simply never occurred.
Looking ahead, much of the Republican campaign strategy is built around the notion that Americans simply hate the new law. House Minority Leader John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) office argued the other day that “the American people remain squarely opposed” to health care reform, and pointed to “the rising public backlash against the new law.”
The evidence to support such observations is lacking.
