The number of Americans that Obamacare’s hurting is double the amount it’s helping, according to a Wednesday CNN poll.
Thirty-five percent of adult American respondents said they’re worse off under the auspices of Obamacare, while just 18 percent say they’re better off. While a plurality of Americans think the health care law hasn’t had much of an effect on them so far, the feeling that the health care law is hurting families is far more prevalent.
When asked whether Obamacare’s helped other families, the results were just as bleak. Forty-four percent of respondents said Obamacare “has not helped anyone in the country,” while 35 percent said it’s probably made other families better off.
In general, 59 percent oppose Obamacare as a policy, while 40 percent favor the health care law. The percentage of voters opposed to Obamacare is up slightly from March, the last time CNN conducted the poll, but opposition has grown slightly on average since the health care exchanges opened.
And over twice as many of those opposed to the health care law dislike it because it’s too liberal, rather than because it’s not liberal enough. Thirty-eight percent disapprove of Obamacare because it’s too liberal; just 17 percent oppose it for not being liberal enough.
Public opinion on the health care law has remained negative fairly consistently, but the law’s supporters have argued that once Americans begin to feel its benefits the tide will turn in their favor. With many more Americans still failing to see any personal benefit from the health care law halfway into its first active year, it seems unlikely that the trend will be changing soon.
Even worse, Democrats fear that the release of health insurance premium rates for 2015 throughout September and October will turn the tide against Democrats in midterm elections. While health insurance premium tend to rise every year, Obamacare supporters had promised to lower the cost of health care for families, but most insurers that have reported 2015 premium rates so far are raising their prices.
