More than half of Americans approve of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), according to a Gallup poll out Tuesday, marking the first time the law has gained majority support since Gallup began tracking public opinion on it in 2012.
Fifty-five percent of Americans say that former President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare reform law should remain in place, though 40 percent say it needs significant changes. Still, the new rate is up significantly from November, when only 42 percent said they approved of the law.
ObamaCare seems have grown on independents the most in recent months. In November, right after the 2016 election, only 40 percent of independents said they approved of the law. But in Gallup’s most recent poll, that number has jumped to 57 percent — a 17-point increase in five months.
{mosads}The apparent wave of approval for ObamaCare comes less than two weeks after the failure of the American Health Care Act (AHCA), the GOP’s plan to repeal and replace the ACA. The measure was backed by House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and the White House early on, but was ultimately withdrawn amid weak Republican support.
After the AHCA’s defeat last month, Ryan and Trump signaled that they would move away from healthcare reform and focus instead on other policy areas, such as tax reform. But the GOP’s longtime promise to do away with ObamaCare has since been revived, with Republican lawmakers in the planning phases of a new healthcare overhaul.
While the ACA has gained significant traction in recent months, the law is still an intensely divisive issue among Democrats and Republicans. Of the Republicans surveyed by Gallup, only 17 percent approved, but 86 percent of Democrats voiced approval of the law.
Other polls have recently shown majority approval for ObamaCare. Pew Research put support for the law at 54 percent in a survey released in February.
The Gallup poll was based on phone interviews with 1,023 U.S. adults in all 50 states, and was conducted April 1-2. Its margin of error is plus or minus 4 points.