Enough already with talking about Obamacare, 53 percent of America (and 47 percent of Republicans!) says. Keep it, fix it and move on to other things, says 60 percent. That's according to the Kaiser Family Foundation
poll for March.
The poll shows the highest support KFF has yet found for the law, which still isn't a lot but has been trending consistently upwards:
In March, 46 percent say they have an unfavorable view of the law (down 4 percentage points since January), while 38 percent say they have a favorable view (up 4 percentage points since January). The gap between unfavorable and favorable views is now eight percentage points, down from a recent high of 16 points in November and January.
Despite it's overall underwater approval, however, the public is really, really ready to accept the law (10 percent) and wants Congress to work on fixing it (49 percent). The public, that is, except for the 29 percent that Republicans are playing for.
Always problematic, though, is the percentage of uninsured people who aren't aware of the March 31 deadline to sign up (about 60 percent). Additionally, 50 percent say they aren't going to sign up, but the same rough percentage says that they aren't aware of Medicaid expansion and more than 40 percent aren't aware that there's financial assistance for low- and moderate-income people in the form of subsidies. The persistent lack of knowledge and understanding about the law among the uninsured shows just what an uphill battle the administration has had in getting the word out. If Democrats play their election cards right, and campaign on the positives of Obamacare, the election might be able to assist in getting the word out before enrollment opens again at the end of the year, and some of these folks might be captured then.
Here's another nugget for Democrats to chew on in this election year: 74 percent of all respondents support the Medicaid expansion in the law, including 69 percent of independents, and 64 percent of Republicans. Medicaid expansion is a salient issue in the red states this cycle. Democrats need to use it.