Survey: Independents Want Obamacare Opponents to “Move On”

The Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: Early Supreme Court Decision on the ACA collected data on June 28th and 29th on American’s reactions to the Supreme Court’s decision on Obamacare. When taken alone, the poll  shows that independents would like to see politicians move on to a different issue.

In a 51% to 35% breakdown, Independents with no leaning to either party say that opponents should not block implementation, but rather move on to other issues. Democrats join that sentiment at 82% to 14% while Republicans would like to see the law blocked by a 69% to 26% margin.

As Wisconsin and Florida have already pledged not to implement parts of Obamacare, the poll’s question is more poignant. Will blocking the health care law be political capital or career suicide for those running states and representing the people?

If you take the numbers together, popular sentiment seems to be on Obama’s side.

Many pollsters ask the question of whether participants view Obamacare favorably or unfavorably. Kaiser does too and their results show that the law is viewed equally good and bad by 41% each of respondents. This question has a flaw – even those who think the law didn’t go far enough will view it unfavorably, but would likely rather see the law expanded than dismantled.

Kaiser chose to ask the question that way and the results may signal a stronger opposition to Republican plans to shut the law down than expected.

53% of participants said they would like to see the law stay in place or get expanded while only 38% said that they would like to see if repealed and replaced.

That is in contrast to polls like Rasmussen Reports that show that 52-54% view the law unfavorably while 34% view it favorably.

The Kaiser question shows that many of those unfavorables could be voters that feel that Obamacare just doesn’t go far enough.

The survey also holds some hopeful number for GOP candidates. 58% of respondents who identified as Republicans or leaning Republican said that the Supreme Court’s decision would make them more likely to vote. Only 38% of Democrats or those leaning Democrat were so motivated.

When breaking down the independent line in this question, the non-leaners only look to be 16% of the motivate population. So perhaps the 51% that would like to see opponents move on are, at best, 8% of the sample.

Overall, the poll shows what Americans already know – the country is divided over the issue of mandated insurance and government involvement in healthcare. How split may not be known until the November results become headlines.