While Americans largely disapprove of how President Barack Obama is handling health care, according to a new HuffPost/YouGov poll, they have even more negative opinions of how Republicans in Congress are handling the issue.
According to the new poll, Americans disapprove of Obama's handling of health care by a 56 percent to 39 percent margin. The survey also finds that 47 percent want to see the Affordable Care Act, Obama's signature health care law, repealed, while 25 percent want to see it expanded and 15 percent think it should be kept the same.
But few view Republicans in Congress as saviors -- by a 63 percent to 27 percent margin, most disapprove of their handling of the issue. Congressional Democrats fared slightly better, though a majority still viewed them negatively, with 34 percent approving and 53 percent disapproving of their handling of health care.
And if forced to choose, more Americans trust Obama to handle health care than Republicans in Congress, 42 percent to 33 percent. Twenty-five percent said they weren't sure.
The poll also found a deep partisan divide, with eighty-five percent of Republicans saying that they wanted the Affordable Care Act repealed, and 70 percent of Democrats saying they wanted it either kept the same or expanded. Fifty-seven percent of independents said it should be repealed.
Not surprisingly, the vast majority of Democrats (77 percent) said they trust Obama most to handle health care, while the vast majority of Republicans (76 percent) said that they trust Republicans in Congress. Independents were divided, with 35 percent saying they trusted Republicans more, 30 percent saying they trusted Democrats more, and 35 percent saying they weren't sure.
Many recent polls have shown a slight uptick in support for Obama's health care law since the beginning of the month, when its implementation began and Republicans shut down the government in an attempt to defund it. But the HuffPost/YouGov poll suggests the law is becoming less popular once again, as the federal website that enables people to sign up for insurance experiences technical difficulties. While a YouGov/Economist poll taken during the shutdown found that 41 percent said that the health care law should be repealed, 47 percent said so in the newest poll. A HuffPost/YouGov poll conducted in late September before the shutdown found that 43 percent wanted to repeal the law.
The HuffPost/YouGov poll was conducted Oct. 22-23 among 1,000 U.S. adults using a sample selected from YouGov's opt-in online panel to match the demographics and other characteristics of the adult U.S. population. Factors considered include age, race, gender, education, employment, income, marital status, number of children, voter registration, time and location of Internet access, interest in politics, religion and church attendance.
The Huffington Post has teamed up with YouGov to conduct daily opinion polls. You can learn more about this project and take part in YouGov's nationally representative opinion polling.
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