More than half of Americans think the federal government should scale back the Affordable Care Act or repeal it, according to a Gallup poll released Friday.
Twenty percent of the 1,017 people surveyed support the scale-back of the law, while 32 percent people want it completely repealed, a small increase from the same survey taken in mid-October, when 50 percent of people favored the same action.
The White House may view the relatively small change as good news given the difficult last six weeks for the law, according to a blog post from The Hill. Earlier this week the Obama administration announced that the federal ACA enrollment website, HealthCare.gov, is working for most users, after a botched launch that drew heavy criticism and scrutiny from the law's opponents.
Twenty percent of those polled said they would want to see a change or expansion of the law, while 17 percent would keep it as is, a seven-point drop from the Oct. 12-13 poll. Eleven percent had no opinion.
Republicans are leading the polls in groups that want to see the law repealed (68 percent, a nine-point increase from the October survey). Democrats, meanwhile, are more likely to want to expand the law (34 percent, an eight-point increase from the last poll).
The poll was taken Tuesday and Wednesday via telephone, with 63 percent of uninsured people saying they intend to enroll in the health exchange, while about a quarter of responders without health insurance say they will pay a fine before enrolling in the exchange.
This opinion survey comes on the heels of a recent Gallup poll, which found the percentage of Americans who believe it's not the government's responsibility to make sure all citizens have healthcare is at a record high, with 56 percent of U.S. adults holding that opinion, FierceHealthcare previously reported.
To learn more:
- here's the Gallup poll
- check out the blog post