Ownership of the Affordable Care Act has officially been transferred from President Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress to President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans, according to a new poll.
In the from the Kaiser Family Foundation, 61 percent of respondents said any problems with the law moving forward are the responsibility of Trump and Republicans in Congress, while only 31 percent said future problems are the fault of the Democrats who passed it. (Kaiser Health News is an editorially independent project of the foundation.)
At the same time, three-quarters of respondents said that Trump and his administration 鈥渟hould do what they can to make the current health care law work,鈥� while only 19 percent said they 鈥渟hould do what they can to make the law fail so they can replace it later.鈥�
Shortly after the House GOP 鈥渞epeal-and-replace鈥� bill last month, Trump said that 鈥渢he best thing we can do, politically speaking, is let Obamacare explode.鈥� That鈥檚 apparently not the case, according to the poll鈥檚 respondents. Even a majority of Republicans 鈥� 51 percent 鈥� said the administration should try to make the law work. That聽was also the view of 54 percent of self-identified Trump supporters.
The poll also makes clear why members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus continue to fight for a bill that repeals more of the law.
While 55 percent of all respondents said the GOP health bill failed to pass because 鈥渋t went too far in cutting existing programs,鈥� a majority of Republicans, 58 percent, said 鈥渋t didn鈥檛 go far enough to end Obamacare.鈥�
And although a plurality of those polled (49 percent) said Trump and congressional Republicans should 鈥渟top working on health care and move on to other priorities,鈥� a full three-quarters of Republicans said they should 鈥渒eep working on a plan to repeal and replace the 2010 health care law.鈥�
The telephone poll 鈥� conducted March 28 through April 3 鈥斅爃as a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.