In March, the Huffington Post conducted two polls with YouGov to gauge public sentiment on the Republican bill repealing and replacing (or maybe just reforming or changing) Obamacare. The results they got were abysmal, with opposition to the bill leading better than two-to-one (52 to 21 percent) in their March 27 survey.
This month, however, the opposition has ebbed and support has risen, the online publication reports. It’s nearly a 20-point swing. And it’s entirely driven by self-identified Trump voters getting behind the bill, whereas a substantial number had previously opposed it. Only 45 percent of Trump supporters had backed it in March, compared to 75 percent now. Clinton voters’ opposition to it has actually hardened, with 89 percent now opposed, compared to just 83 percent last time around.
There’s more than one possible explanation for this. If you assume a very sophisticated understanding of Congress among Trump voters, you might say that the Freedom Caucus’ seal of approval meant a lot. But it seems far more likely that, with the bill having passed and Trump claiming it as a victory, it has finally become the subject of the same partisan tribalism that has driven the opposition all along.
The AHCA is still quite unpopular, with 44 percent saying they oppose it, compared to 31 percent in support and 25 percent unsure. That’s a far cry from what it was before, though. You can look at all the results here.
