The Senate's Obamacare replacement bill is faring no better with the public than the highly criticized plan that passed the House earlier this year.
Only 17 percent of Americans approve of the Senate GOP's Better Care Reconciliation Act, versus 55 percent who disapprove, according to an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll released Tuesday. Some 24 percent of respondents said they had not heard enough about it to have an opinion.
The poll was taken from June 21 to 25, even before the release of a Congressional Budget Office report that estimated the bill would lead to 22 million more uninsured Americans by 2026. The NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll surveyed 1,205 adults and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points.
It was just one of the polls released Tuesday that showed strong disapproval for the Republican Obamacare replacement efforts.
- A separate USA Today/Suffolk University poll found only 12 percent of Americans support the Senate plan. It surveyed 1,000 registered voters and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
- A Quinnipiac University poll found that Americans disapproved of the "Republican health care plan to replace Obamacare" by a 58 percent to 16 percent margin. A majority of respondents within key groups of Trump support opposed the plan: respondents 65 years and older, men and white respondents. It surveyed 1,212 voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.
Senate Republicans on Tuesday delayed their plan to vote on the bill this week amid mounting opposition from the party's moderate and conservative wings. Moderate senators have raised concerns about the possible growth in the number of uninsured Americans and the plan's rollback of Medicaid expansion. Conservatives have said the bill does not go far enough to repeal Obamacare.
The NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist approval figures almost exactly mirror a March Quinnipiac poll on the House's Obamacare replacement bill. That survey showed it got 17 percent approval and 56 percent disapproval.
The dismal approval rating complicates matters for senators who may be on the fence about voting for the plan. For instance, Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada, a vulnerable Republican up for re-election next year, came out strongly against the current plan during a news conference last week.
The Senate bill could change as leadership seeks to make amendments or concessions to win over skeptical members.
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