Over a quarter of Americans now say Obamacare has personally hurt them, according to a Gallup poll released Wednesday.
Twenty-seven percent of Americans say the health-care law has hurt them, up from 19 percent in May. The percentage saying Obamacare has helped still lags behind, up to 16 percent from 10 percent earlier this year.
And that includes a significant boost from unhappy Democrats. Fifteen percent of Democrats polled said Obamacare hurt them and their families personally, up from 6 percent in May. Republicans’ feelings on the law have remained fairly unchanged, with 40 percent reporting that they’ve been harmed; 27 percent of independents agree.
If it hasn’t been made clear enough by now, the public’s longstanding opposition to the law isn’t likely to change. Forty-six percent of Americans say that Obamacare will make the U.S.’s health care system worse in the long run. That even includes 21 percent of Democrats, along with the vast majority of Republicans and 42 percent of independents.
According to the Obama administration, however, this is what the public can expect when Obamacare is working as intended. The White House has repeatedly declared victory on Obamacare; the health-care law’s new chief, Health and Human Services secretary Sylvia Burwell, is calling for the public to “move beyond the politics,” she told The Washington Post this week. (RELATED: Burwell: No Really, Obamacare IS Working)
And yet, as always, a majority of Americans oppose the health-care law on principle. Fifty-three percent of those polled disapprove of the health-care law, while just 41 percent approve. (RELATED: Voters Don’t Like Obamacare, And Probably Never Will)