The
latest monthly tracking poll from Kaiser Family Foundation shows an incremental but definite increase in the law's popularity, though it's still just at 43 percent, nationally. But here's a possible sign that its popularity is on the upswing, coming out of New Hampshire. Public Policy Polling included an Obamacare question in its
new survey in the state, and reports:
In a sign of how much the political landscape around Obamacare has changed in the last year, 44% of New Hampshire voters say they support the Affordable Care Act to 43% who are opposed. Those numbers are tight but it used to be that the ACA was very unpopular in any swing state where we polled it. It's now at worst a neutral issue for Democrats politically, and it's moving in the direction of actually being a help for them. One big reason things are different now—Democrats (79%) are more unified in their support of it than Republicans (74%) are in their opposition.
How unpopular was the law in New Hampshire previously? Extremely. Here's where it was in February of 2014, according to a
WMUR poll.
The WMUR Granite State Poll shows that 53 percent of Granite Staters say they are opposed to the health care law, with 34 percent in favor. In October, the same poll showed 47 percent opposed compared to 40 percent in favor.
"It's been unpopular since it was first proposed," said Andy Smith of the University of New Hampshire Survey Center. "And it's been more unpopular since it's been implemented."
That assessment seems to finally be changing, and the fact that it hasn't made the sky fall in since implementation is probably helping. It's not a given that the law will gain in popularity in leaps and bounds, particularly because a lot of people will view its success and whether or not they like it by how much their health insurance is costing them, whether they have Obamacare plans or not. But opposition to repealing the law and support for keeping and improving it is pretty much a given at this point.
One thing that means is that Democrats can stop finally playing defense on the law, and go on offense now, pushing hard against Republicans' ceaseless efforts to roll it back. That corner has finally been turned.