Majorities of Americans think the new health care law is going to increase their medical costs and their taxes — and add to the federal deficit as well. Those are some of the reasons why voters say — by a two-to-one margin — that Congress should keep working on the law.
A Fox News national poll released Thursday also asks voters about how they think Obamacare is being carried out: 31 percent say “it’s going fine,” yet a 57-percent majority feels “it’s a joke.”
Republicans are more than three times as likely to say it’s a joke (87 percent vs. 25 percent). Still, a quarter of Democrats agree.
Nine times as many Democrats as Republicans say implementation of Obamacare is going fine (63 percent vs. 7 percent).
Overall, 63 percent of voters think the 2010 health care law needs to be changed and Congress should keep at it. That’s up from 58 percent who felt that way in July 2012. On the other hand, 31 percent say the law is the law and Congress should “move on” to other issues.
The poll finds that 65 percent of independents think Congress should keep working on the law, up from 53 percent last year. It’s noteworthy that 41 percent of Democrats now feel the law needs more work, up from 35 percent.
The number of Republicans who thinks the law needs to be changed — 84 percent — held steady.
In general, just six percent of voters describe Obamacare as “wonderful,” while another 37 percent say “it’s progress.” More voters use negative terms to describe it: 14 percent call it “a step backwards” and 39 percent say “it’s disastrous.”
More than 8 Democrats in 10 describe the health care law positively: 15 percent “wonderful” and 66 percent “progress.”
Nearly 9 Republicans in 10 say it is “a step backward” (20 percent) or “disastrous” (68 percent).
Parents (58 percent), non-parents (51 percent), those under age 45 (51 percent), those ages 45+ (54 percent), veterans (67 percent) and non-veterans (51 percent) describe their general feelings about Obamacare negatively (step backward or disastrous).
Blacks (85 percent), Democrats (81 percent), liberals (77 percent) and unmarried voters (51 percent) describe the health care law in positive terms (wonderful or progress).
The new poll finds 71 percent of voters believe Obamacare will increase their taxes, while 62 percent say it will increase the cost of their premiums. Another 65 percent think it will add to the deficit.
Meanwhile, by a 41-23 percent margin, voters think the quality of their health care will decrease rather than increase. Thirty percent expect it to stay the same.
Among the 62 percent who believe Obamacare puts the country on the path to socialized health care, nearly twice as many see that as bad rather than good.
The Fox News poll is based on landline and cell phone interviews with 1,007 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide and was conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from August 3 to August 5. The full poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.
