President Trump has been hammering Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell over the failure by Senate Republicans to pass an ObamaCare repeal plan, and he's urged the Senate to take back up repeal-and-replace legislation before moving on to other big legislation. Only 34 percent of Americans agree with him, while 62 percent favor moving on, including 47 percent of Republicans, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll released Friday. A 60 percent majority said it is a "good thing" the Senate failed to pass an ObamaCare repeal bill, 51 percent say they're "relieved," 47 percent are "happy," 38 percent "disappointed," and 19 percent "angry."
Meanwhile, 57 percent of Americans said they want Republicans to work with Democrats to improve the law. And not only do 78 percent of Americans want the Trump administration to do what it can to make ObamaCare work, but that includes 52 percent of Republicans and 51 percent of Trump supporters.
Overall, 52 percent of respondents now approve of ObamaCare — a 9 point jump since Trump's election — while 39 percent disapprove. Sixty percent of respondents said that Trump and Republicans are responsible for the Affordable Care Act, but only 36 percent of Republicans and Trump supporters agreed with that proposition, with 56 percent and 53 percent, respectively, saying Democrats and former President Barack Obama are responsible.
Trump has suggested he might scrap subsidies that help insurance companies insure seven million low-income people to get Democrats to come to the negotiating table, but 63 percent of respondents disagree with such hardball tactics, though 58 percent of Republicans approve. Strong majorities disapprove of Trump trying weaken the ObamaCare marketplace by cutting off advertising and outreach, though 66 percent of Republicans favor not enforcing the individual mandate (overall, Americans disapprove of that tactic, 65 percent to 31 percent). The uncertainty is already raising premiums, according to a separate KFF study.
The growing support for the law, and opposition to undermining it, among independents might "help explain why some centrist Republicans who rely on moderate voters' support opposed repeal or backed it only after winning some concessions," The Associated Press suggests. The poll was conducted Aug. 1-6, after the Senate repeal failure, among 1,211 adults, and it has a margin of error of ±3 percentage points.