Politics

Obama less popular than Obamacare

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A new survey of likely voters finds that President Obama is now less popular than one of his most partisan accomplishments, Obamacare.

An NPR poll released Thursday, conducted for Morning Edition by Democrat Stan Greenberg of Democracy Corps and Republican Whit Ayres of Resurgent Republic, found that 47 percent support Obamacare while 51 percent oppose it.

For President Obama, however just 46 percent approve of him, compared to 51 percent that disapprove.

NPR notes that 7 percent of likely voters oppose the law because it did not go far enough.

According to Ayers, Obamacare will be a good issue for Republicans to run on this cycle.

“First, more people oppose than support Obamacare, as has been the case since it passed,” he told NPR. “Second, the intensity is on the side of opposition and intensity drives voting behavior. Third, independents oppose Obamacare by 21 points in this survey and they hold the balance of power in this election.”

Greenberg argued that Obama’s low approval numbers are not that bad.

“The president’s approval number of 46 percent is not a bad number, and if in fact it continues to edge up, you’re not talking about the same kind of numbers when you had 39 percent or 42 percent approval. So the trend of all of those stuff is moving slowly,” he said. “And I think this turning point of the Affordable Care Act will have an impact on his performance and also the energy of Democrats.”

Monday was the last day of open enrollment in Obamacare. The administration claims more than 7 million people have enrolled.

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