A new poll from Gallup shows that Obamacare’s popularity just hit a new low. According to the poll, only 37 percent of Americans say they approve of the law. On the flip side, a whopping 56 percent of Americans say they disapprove of the law, giving President Obama’s signature health care achievement a net approval rating of -19. By way of comparison, its net approval rating barely two years ago, in December of 2012, was +3:
As the Affordable Care Act’s second open enrollment period begins, 37% of Americans say they approve of the law, one percentage point below the previous low in January. Fifty-six percent disapprove, the high in disapproval by one point.
Americans were slightly more positive than negative about the law around the time of the 2012 election, but they have consistently been more likely to disapprove than approve of the law in all surveys that have been conducted since then. Approval has been in the low 40% or high 30% range after a noticeable dip that occurred in early November 2013. This was shortly after millions of Americans received notices that their current policies were being canceled, which was at odds with President Barack Obama’s pledge that those who liked their plans could keep them. The president later said, by way of clarification, that Americans could keep their plans if those plans didn’t change after the ACA was passed.
In many ways, Obamacare is basically the Wendy Davis of federal health care laws: the more people learn about it, the more they hate it. Call it the reverse wine effect. It gets worse with age.
Disapproval of the law is not just limited to Republicans, though. Independents also detest the law:
Interestingly enough, Americans are far more likely to approve of voter identification laws (70 percent approve), gun ownership (63 percent say it makes homes safer), and school choice grants (64 percent approve) than they are to approve of Obamacare.