The gold standard of health care polling, the Kaiser Health Tracking Poll, is out for
October and shows once again that the public is basically behind Obamacare, with significantly more wanting to keep it or expand it than to repeal it. Despite all of the Republicans' efforts to sabotage it, public opinion about Obamacare has held steady, 44 percent unfavorable versus 38 percent favorable, but large majorities are still opposed to Republican sabotage.
A solid majority of the public (60 percent) say they oppose the idea of cutting off funding as a way to stop the law from being implemented, and a higher share would like to see Congress expand the law or keep it as is (47 percent) rather than repeal it (37 percent). Partisan divisions are as deep as ever, with four in ten Democrats saying the want Congress to expand the law, and a similar share of Republicans (42 percent) wanting to see the law repealed and not replaced.
In really bad news for Republicans, the public does not share their obsession with Obamacare. At all.
In October, 75 percent of people reported following the government shutdown closely, 71 percent were paying attention to the economy, and 60 percent developments in Syria. In comparison, 53 percent were closely following the problems with the HealthCare.gov site.
For more than a year the Kaiser poll has consistently shown that the public is fed up with Republican efforts to kill the law. Probably not coincidentally all polls have been showing shrinking approval ratings for Republicans for more than a year.