A new poll finds that 65 percent of Americans want to repeal at least parts of Obamacare, but just 18 percent want to scrap the whole thing.
The survey, released by Quinnipiac University on Thursday, suggests potential public relations pitfalls for both Republicans and Democrats as the debate over what to do about the healthcare law heats up. If Republicans pursue a full repeal of the law, they’d risk alienating nearly four in five voters. Yet Democrats would be at odds with nearly two in three if they are in lock-step opposition to scrapping parts of the law.
According to a Quinnipiac poll, in addition to the 18 percent of voters who want President-elect Trump and Congress to repeal all of Obamacare, 47 percent want parts of the law repealed and 31 percent say Congress shouldn’t touch the healthcare law. An additional 4 percent had no opinion.
The poll showed 48 percent of voters want Trump to support efforts to repeal the law and 47 percent say he shouldn’t support repeal.
Repealing the Affordable Care Act appears to be the top priority of the unified Republican government and the Senate took the initial steps to start repealing parts of the law earlier this week. Trump called the law the “Unaffordable Care Act” on Friday morning and promised it would soon be “history.” But at other times, he’s said he wants to keep parts of the law intact, such as covering individuals with pre-existing conditions and allowing those under 26 to remain on their parents’ policies.
Getting rid of Obamacare is popular among Republicans — 86 percent stating Trump should support congressional Republicans in its efforts to repeal the law. However, Democrats are strongly against repealing the law and 78 percent of Democrat voters stating Trump shouldn’t support repeal efforts.
Forty-eight percent of independent voters don’t want Trump to support repeal efforts and 44 percent say he should back repeal.
Independent voters are strongly against repealing the entire law. Only 13 percent of independent voters want the entire Affordable Care Act repealed. More than half of independent voters, 58 percent, want parts of the law replaced and 24 percent don’t want Congress to repeal any portions of the law.
On a separate issue, the poll also found voters are against the idea of Trump removing Obama’s climate change regulations once he comes into office.
According to the poll, 59 percent of voters say Trump shouldn’t remove climate regulations and 32 percent want those regulations to go away.
“Not exactly a hearty endorsement of two highly controversial stances President-elect Donald Trump has taken: A split decision on scrapping Obamacare but no ambivalence on climate change. ‘Preserve the planet, Mr. Trump,’ is the stern advice of voters,” said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.
The poll was conducted between Jan. 5 and Jan. 9 among 899 voters on cellphones and landlines across the country. The margin of error is 3.3 percentage points.
