Republicans really, really hate this.
For the majority of Americans, the Supreme Court has spoken so that's that on both Obamacare and marriage equality—it's time to stop fighting these battles. That's according to a
USA Today/Suffolk University Poll released Thursday. But, as always, there's a core of dead-ender Republicans locked into their opposition.
By 52%-36%, those polled say officials who oppose the Affordable Care Act should take steps to improve the law but end efforts to repeal it, given the high court's decision rejecting its most serious legal challenge. But Republicans by more than 2-1, 63%-27%, say the campaign to overturn the law should continue.
On same-sex marriage, Americans by 51%-33% say local and state officials now should allow gay couples to wed in their jurisdictions even if they oppose gay marriage. On that, Republicans also tend to disagree: 49% say officials who oppose same-sex unions should take steps to resist the court's ruling and block them while 38% say they should allow them to take place.
So much for the rule of law. But most Republicans don't seem to think the Supreme Court is a legitimate body anymore, precisely because of these two rulings. A new
Gallup poll shows Republican approval of the court at just 18 percent, a record low. That's "down 17 percentage points from September 2014 and down a total of 33 points since last summer."
What this means is that they're still going to be fighting on marriage and they're still going to be fighting on Obamacare, at least until the 2016 primaries are over. The base must be appeased, no matter how disastrous that might be in the long run.
