Democratic pollster Molly Murphy said Monday that the House GOP’s attempts last year to repeal ObamaCare will hurt them in November’s midterm elections.
“Republicans took an affirmative action to make health care more costly for more people in their health-care repeal vote,” Murphy, a partner at ALG Research, told Hill.TV’s Joe Concha on “What America’s Thinking.”
“They did not come in with a replace; they came in with a repeal. That created a lot of anxiety around health care,” she said.
“A lot of the House Republicans, in particular, made votes to say, ‘This is what I believe on health care,'” Murphy added. “So even though it did not ultimately succeed, it’s when you’re thinking about who you’re going to vote for and how they voted.”
The Senate failed to pass an ObamaCare repeal measure in 2017.
Polls show that health care continues to be a top priority for voters heading into the Nov. 6 elections, which are also expected to be a referendum on President Trump’s first two years in office.
A recent Public Religion Research Institute survey found that 58 percent of Americans said the rising cost of health care is a critical issue for them. The poll also found that 53 percent of respondents said protecting coverage for pre-existing conditions is a top concern.
Those polling figures come at a time when former President Obama’s signature health-care law is considered more popular than the 2017 Republican tax cuts.
A Fox News poll released in August found that 51 percent of voters approved of ObamaCare, compared with 40 percent of voters who approved of the GOP tax overhaul that Trump signed into law in December.
“I think whether it’s the Trump election or the health-care election, in either regard it does put Republicans on their back foot,” Murphy said.
— Julia Manchester
Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.