Key voting bloc boosts Obamacare to highest approval ever as Congress battles over soaring costs: poll
The steep partisan divide in Congress over the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, reflects a similar rift among the public — except for when it comes to independents....
By Fox News · Fox News
The steep partisan divide in Congress over the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, reflects a similar rift among the public — except for when it comes to independents. Despite the program’s climbing costs, 63% of respondents with no party affiliation hold a positive view of Obamacare, according to polling released by Gallup on Monday. It's a finding that's helped drive the program's overall approval to new heights even as lawmakers struggle to find answers on making it more fiscally sustainable. BIPARTISAN LAWMAKERS UNVEIL OBAMACARE FIX AS PRESSURE GROWS ON JOHNSON FOR PLAY CALL The view among independents completely breaks down along party lines. The polling, conducted in partnership with the West Health-Gallup Center on Health Care in America, found that 91% of Democrats approve of the program, while only 15% of Republicans hold the same view. Those findings indicate that Americans are more split on Obamacare’s effectiveness than ever. At the same time, a record 57% of respondents overall said they held a positive view of Obamacare where 35% said they held a negative view — the greatest disparity between the two positions since Gallup started tracking it in 2013. This year’s polling puts Obamacare’s approval rating at its highest ever, according to Gallup. Gallup’s polling comes as lawmakers in Congress wrestle over what tweaks can be made to make Obamacare more affordable or if the country would be better off replacing it entirely. Those deliberations began with the smaller question of whether to extend emergency, COVID-19-era assistance for the program. SENATE REPUBLICANS UNVEIL PLAN TO REPLACE OBAMACARE SUBSIDIES WITH HEALTH SAVINGS ACCOUNTS Lawmakers must decide whether to extend Obamacare’s COVID-19 enhanced premium tax credits before they sunset at the end of the year. Democrats fear that letting those subsidies expire would increase the cost of health insurance overnight for the vast majority of Obamacare enrollees. Over 90% of Obamacare’s 24 m…