A new poll found that half of Americans would place blame on low enrollment in Obamacare squarely on President Trump.
The poll from the health research firm Kaiser Family Foundation also found that 61 percent of Americans think Trump and congressional Republicans are responsible for Obamacare’s future.
However, assigning blame for low enrollment fell sharply along partisan lines. Kaiser found 78 percent of Democrats believe lower signups are Trump’s fault, while 73 percent of Republicans think that it is because Obamacare is flawed.
Nearly half of independents surveyed (48 percent) would blame the Trump administration rather than the law itself.
The poll comes as open enrollment for Obamacare is in full swing and runs until Dec. 15, six weeks shorter than last year’s open enrollment. Nearly 1.5 million people have signed up for Obamacare plans during its first 12 days of open enrollment.
Opinions on Obamacare remain bitterly divided; 50 percent had a favorable view and 46 percent were unfavorable. There is also a wide partisan split on the law, as 80 percent of Democrats have a favorable and 81 percent of Republicans feel the opposite.
The poll comes amid attacks from Obamacare advocates and Democrats that Trump is trying to sabotage the law by cutting the enrollment period in half, slashing ad funding and halting insurer payments.
Trump has said he would like to see Obamacare “implode” to help create momentum for Obamacare repeal.
The poll found that 78 percent of the public is aware of Obamacare while 12 percent believe the law has been repealed. Another 31 percent have said they haven’t heard anything about the open enrollment period, and 45 percent said they heard less this year than prior years.
The Trump administration decided to slash ad funding by 90 percent from $100 million last year to $10 million and cut funding to nonprofits called “navigators” that assist with signups by around 40 percent. Administration officials have said the law doesn’t need as much money for outreach and ads because it is the fifth open enrollment in Obamacare and people are already aware of it.
Kaiser’s poll also examines support for a buy-in option for Medicare. A large majority of the public, 77 percent, supports a buy-in option for people ages 50 to 64. This includes a majority of Democrats and Republicans.
The poll is of 1,201 adults and has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
