Polling Memo: ObamaCare Breaks Precedent on Party Preference

GOP Preferred on HealthCare

As October 1^st approaches, numbers continue to go from bad to worse for President Obama and his health care law.  Out this week, the latest from Pew/USA Today shows 53 percent of Americans disapproving of ObamaCare, mimicking the President’s 53 percent disapproval on his handling of health care policy.  To add to the gravity, Pew cites this as “among the most negative assessments of the law since it was enacted in March 2010.”¹

And, it gets worse.

For the first time since passage of the law, Republicans hold the edge on health care, 40 to 39 percent respectively.  In fact, looking at the full trend, this marks the first time “in polling that stretches back more than two decades,” back to 1990 and the first Bush Administration, that Americans prefer Republicans over Democrats when it comes to health care policy.²

POLLSTER: Pew Research Center for USA Today
DATE: Conducted 9/4-8/2013; Released 9/16/2013
SAMPLE: Sampled 1,506 Adults; 18±; MoE ±2.9%
SOURCE: http://www.people-press.org/files/legacy-pdf/9-16-13%20Health%20Care%20Release.pdf
Headline: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/09/16/usa-today-pew-poll-health-care-law-opposition/2817169/
¹ http://www.people-press.org/files/legacy-pdf/9-16-13%20Health%20Care%20Release.pdf
² http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/09/16/usa-today-pew-poll-health-care-law-opposition/2817169/