What Public Really Thinks Of Obamacare

For the last couple of weeks we have heard the teabaggers in Congress claim they are just doing what the American people want them to do by shutting down the government to get rid of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). And even after their failure to get that, they keep saying that they will continue to fight Obamacare because the people want Obamacare repealed (saying they have heard from many people being hurt by Obamacare). Is that true?

Actually, no. They are either engaging in a bit of hyperbole or outright lying to the American public. Poll after poll has said that the public does not want Obamacare repealed, and they definitely did not want the government shut down to accomplish it. And despite what the GOP would like for Americans to believe (so they can justify their ridiculous actions), there is now a new survey that verifies what the previous ones have said.

It is the new Democracy Corps Poll (taken of 950 nationwide respondents between October 6th and 8th, with a 3.18 point margin of error). The charts above were made with information from this survey. As the top chart shows, Americans are split -- with 45% in favor of Obamacare and 45% opposed to it. But as the next chart shows, the picture is a bit more complicated than that. Of those who oppose Obamacare, a significant portion (14%) say they oppose it because it does not go far enough in changing this nation's health care system -- and those people do not want the law repealed. They want it made much stronger.

And only 20% say they have been hurt by the law. I wish the poll had asked how they were hurt, but it didn't. At any rate, it doesn't amount to the huge percentages being hurt that the Republicans claim. Most people (46%) say it is too early to tell how they will be affected by the law, while 14% say they have already been benefitted, and 17% say they have neither been benefitted nor hurt by the law.

And in the final analysis, a significant majority of Americans say they do not want Obamacare repealed. About 58% say they want the law to be fully implemented, and problems fixed if they crop up. Only 38% say they want the law repealed and replaced.

It turns out that most people are ready to give Obamacare a chance, even those who ren't happy with the law. The Republicans are either only listening to their narrow base, or they are lying in an attempt to cover for their very unpopular action of shutting down the government.