President Obama signed The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act care bill into law on March 23, 2010, and nine years later Americans still have mixed feeling about the landmark effort to overhaul the U.S. health care system. According to a recent poll by the market research firm YouGov, 51 percent of Americans currently support the law, nicknamed Obamacare, with 28 percent saying they “strongly approve” and another 23 percent saying they “somewhat approve.” About 37 percent somewhat or strongly disapprove, while another 23 percent say they don’t know.
The partisan divide on the issue is unmistakable. Democrats are far more positive, providing an 83 percent overall approval rating, while Republicans are far more negative, with just 22 percent approving of the bill – and 75 percent saying they strongly or somewhat disapprove.
President Trump vowed to repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it with something far better, and the GOP’s years-long effort to undermine if not eliminate the legislation has had an effect on public perception. YouGov’s Linley Sanders says that according to the poll, 13 percent of Americans think Obamacare has already been repealed.
