Americans Split on Repealing ACA

If a Republican wins the election in November, Americans are very split about whether or not they want the new president to repeal the 2010 health care law, according to a Gallup poll. Unsurprisingly the split occurs along party lines.

If President Barack Obama loses the election, then it was almost guaranteed that the Republican president will attempt to overturn the law. Nearly half (47%) of Americans favor this, while 44% oppose it. The parties are overwhelming in their beliefs with 87% of Republicans supporting the repeal and 77% of Democrats opposing a repeal.

All of the Republican candidates have already vowed to repeal the bill if elected, which very clearly matches with what the party wants.

The country is also very split on whether or not the bill should have even been passed. Just after the bill was passed, Americans were slightly more positive about the law, and it has since evened out as their economic confidence dropped.

At this point 70% of Americans reported that the law hasn’t affected them personally as only a few provisions have gone into effect at this time. Of those who have experienced the changes, 12% said it helped them, while 16% said it hurt them.

Those in the 70% so far unaffected are almost equally convinced that the bill will negatively impact their family’s health care situation (38%) or not make much of a difference (34%). Only 24% expect the bill will improve their situation.

In the future, if the law is implemented as planned, Americans’ opinions will likely shift as that 70% sees whether or not the law is benefitting or harming them.

Gallup specifically asked Americans about one very controversial piece to the bill: the individual mandate, around which center the legal challenges the Supreme Court will hear next month. Although they are split about the health care law in general, Americans overwhelmingly believe that the individual mandate is not constitutional (72%).

Even a majority of Democrats, otherwise supportive of the bill, believe the provision is unconstitutional.