A majority of Americans are not on board with the Senate Republicans’ latest Obamacare repeal effort, a new poll shows.
A CBS News survey found that 52 percent of respondents disapproved of the Graham-Cassidy health care bill, which is struggling to find enough support in the Senate before a crucial end of month deadline.
The bulk of Americans, instead, wanted to see the Affordable Care Act, dubbed ‘Obamacare,’ fixed, with 65 percent saying it includes some good things, but ‘needs some changes.’
Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La. (left) and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. (right) are the authors of a new health care bill. Like its predecessors, it’s taking a hit in the public opinion polls
CBS News found that a majority of Americans, 52 percent, disapproved of the Graham-Cassidy plan, with not even a majority of Republicans supporting it
Like most political issues, Americans’ views are divided on the health care bill, authored by Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy, depending on their party preference.
Democrats like it the least, with a paltry 2 percent saying they approved of the GOP-led plan, which takes Obamacare funds and divvies them out in the form of block grants to the states.
Another 84 percent of Democrats said they disapproved of Graham-Cassidy, while 14 percent of party members didn’t know.
A lot more Republicans support it, though not a majority.
The poll found that 46 percent of GOP voters liked Graham-Cassidy, while 21 percent disapproved of it and another 33 percent of Republicans didn’t know.
Those Republicans who approved of the Graham-Cassidy plan were lukewarm about it, while Democrats were rabidly against it, the poll showed.
Twenty-seven percent of Republicans said they somewhat approved of Graham-Cassidy, versus the 19 percent of GOP voters who said they strongly approved of the plan.
When breaking down Democratic enthusiasm, pollsters found that 70 percent of voters were strongly opposed to Graham-Cassidy, versus 14 percent who just somewhat opposed it.
Just 1 percent of Democrats said they strongly approved of Graham-Cassidy, with another 1 percent saying they somewhat approved of it.
A plurality of Americans believed the Senate was moving too fast on the bill, which needs to be voted on by September 30 so Republicans can make use of reconciliation rules, which only require a majority vote.
Forty-two percent of Americans say Graham-Cassidy is moving through the Senate too fast, while 23 percent say it’s happening too slow, and another 22 percent saying the pace is just right.
Forty percent of Republicans said the bill was moving too slow, as GOP lawmakers have been promising their voters a repeal and replacement for Obamacare for the past seven years.
Democrats, on the other hand, felt that GOP senators were jamming the bill through, with 64 percent saying it was moving too fast.
Half the Americans surveyed believed that if Graham-Cassidy passed the Senate, the House and made it to the president’s desk it would have ‘no effect’ on their health care.
Generally speaking, most Americans receive health insurance through their employers.
However, another 42 percent believed the bill would hurt them personally.
That number is high mainly because of Democratic fears, with 64 percent of Democrats saying they believed the law would hurt them, while just 18 percent of Republicans viewed the measure that way.
At the same time, only 14 percent of Republicans thought the bill would help them, with a much smaller percentage of Democrats (2 percent) and independents (7 percent) viewing the legislation that way.
The poll found one area where a sizable chunk of Americans agree – that insurers should have to cover people with pre-existing conditions.
Overall, 87 percent of Americans agreed, including 92 percent of Democrats and 79 percent of Republicans.