A wide majority of Americans want Republicans in Congress to move on from their health care reform effort following an unsuccessful bid to repeal and replace Obamacare on Friday, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released Saturday.
In a poll of more than 1,130 Americans conducted July 28-29 — after GOP senators tried and failed three times to pass a health care bill — Reuters/Ipsos found that nearly two-thirds of the country wants to either keep or modify the Affordable Care Act. A majority of Americans want Congress to focus on other priorities such as tax reform, foreign affairs and infrastructure.
Only 29 percent of respondents said they wanted Republicans in Congress to “continue working on a new healthcare bill,” the Reuters survey found.
The GOP has made repealing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) a legislative priority since it was signed into law more than six years ago. Despite a Republican president and majorities in the House and Senate, GOP lawmakers have not been able to reach a consensus on how to proceed with a health care bill of their own. On Friday, GOP Sens. John McCain of Arizona, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine joined with Democrats to vote against the so-called “skinny repeal” proposal, effectively killing the last hope Republicans had to repeal Obamacare in the near term.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was resigned to defeat Friday, telling GOP senators that “it’s time to move on” from the Obamacare repeal fight.
“The American people are going to regret that we couldn’t find a better way forward,” he said on the Senate floor. “And as I said, we look forward to our colleagues on the other side suggesting what they have in mind.”
Amid Republican infighting, Obamacare has grown more popular with the public. Saturday’s Reuters poll found that 64 percent of Americans said they wanted to keep the law either “entirely as is” or after fixing “problem areas,” up from 54 percent in January.
Support for the ACA broke down along party lines, with just three out of ten Republicans saying they wanted to keep or modify Obamacare, compared to nine out of ten Democrats. While about three-fourths Republicans would like to see the health care law repealed at some point in the future, a majority now want GOP lawmakers to move on to other bills, according to the Reuters survey.
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