Approval of President Obama’s health care overhaul has dipped in recent weeks to its lowest level in a year as the administration deals with the fallout from a botched rollout of major parts of the law on Oct. 1.
Forty percent of Americans now approve of the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, compared to 55 percent who disapprove, according to Gallup — the largest gap the polling outfit has measured in the last year.
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Approval of the law remained relatively steady even after widespread glitches with the HealthCare.gov website were reported when federal health exchanges opened for enrollment in October. But the timing of the drop — the survey was taken Nov. 7-10 — suggests it may be linked to the controversy over the millions of Americans currently losing their coverage, Gallup’s Jeffrey M. Jones writes.
The leading reason people say they disapprove is government interference/forcing people to do things, with 37 percent of those who don’t support the law giving that answer. Twenty-one percent in that category say it increases costs/makes health care less affordable, while 11 percent mention losing their insurance. Eight percent say planning, design or website problems; 8 percent say the law isn’t working; and 7 percent say Mr. Obama lied about details of the law.
For those who approve of the law, 23 percent cite the fact that it makes health care accessible to more people and 15 percent say that people have a right to health insurance. Other popular responses were it provides more health insurance options, makes health care more affordable, and covers people with pre-existing medical conditions.
The survey of 1,039 adults has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
