Poll: More independent voters support health care repeal

(CBS News) On the day after the House voted to repeal the president's Affordable Care Act (ACA), a new poll out Thursday reveals that Americans are closely divided on President Obama's health care law, though more independent voters support repealing the law.

49 percent of Americans back the House Republicans' efforts while 47 percent say it should stand. However, Americans are deeply divided by political affiliation. Eighty-five percent of Republicans back repeal while only 17 percent of Democrats do. Most interestingly, independents are split 49 percent to 41 percent backing repeal - more evidence as to why Republicans want to set health care as the political fight they think they can win this campaign year.

While the new Quinnipiac University Poll found that Americans are generally divided on repeal, it also found that Americans are closely divided overall on the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the law, 48 percent to 45 percent, supporting the Court. Fifty-five percent of poll respondents say they also agree with the Supreme Court's ruling that the individual mandate requiring health insurance is a tax increase; 36 percent don't think it's a tax hike.

Watch White House press secretary Jay Carney address health care repeal.

"President Barack Obama has worked mightily to avoid the 'T' word, but most American voters say the ACA is in effect a tax hike," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

Meanwhile, 59 percent of Americans, including 63 percent of independents, say the Supreme Court's decision makes no difference on whether to vote for President Obama in November. But a majority of Americans, 55 percent, say health care is an extremely important or very important issue when determining who they vote for president in November. Fifty-one percent of independents say it is.

Recently, the Republican-led House also voted to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress over the Fast and Furious program. Two-thirds of poll respondents have heard of the vote. Of those, 44 percent says they support the contempt vote even though 42 percent say it is political. Respondents' positions on contempt are also divided along party lines, while independents are divided: 33 percent say it was legitimate and 39 percent say it was political.

The Quinnipiac Poll also asked the same 2,722 registered voters about immigration. Fifty-five percent of respondents support the president's new immigration policy to hold deportations of children of illegal immigrations while 39 percent oppose it. Responses of independents are similar, with 55 percent backing the president's plan and 39 percent opposing it.

Watch Speaker John Boehner address health care repeal on the House floor.

Although the president has support for his plan, 51 percent of voters say it will make no difference in their support of the president in November.

And while respondents back the president's plan, two-thirds of Americans, including two-thirds of independents, back Arizona's immigration law that requires police to verify the legal status of people they suspect are in the country illegally if the person is stopped or arrested.

Pollsters also asked about the state of the economy. Respondents have a negative view of the economy, with only 13 percent saying its good while 45 percent say it's not so good and 41 percent say it's poor. However the views have improved slowly since July of last year.

Finally, 60 percent of respondents say the U.S. should not be involved in the Afghanistan while 31 percent say the U.S. is doing the right thing.

[hypnotoad72]

I wonder how many question not because of which political side they blindly take, but because of:

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2012/mar/20/romneycare-and-obamacare-can-you-tell-difference/

Still, Obama has tried to compromise and play nice. His opponents would never do, and then they blame HIM for being a divider, which is about as outlandish and uncalled for as it gets. Irony - they have no concept of that either...

[ugacrew]

Please tell us, of the independent voters who back repeal of Obamacare, how many of them already have insurance; and of that number, who many voted to repeal?

Put some teeth into your stats please.

[hypnotoad72]

"Romneycare", but the GOP hates it because it wasn't Romney himself who put it in...

[idamwade]

Some understand how it works and love it. Some don't care how it works and hate it. Some want the option to change it if they don't like how it works. Everyone knows republicans will obstruct it and may succeed in destroying it. But few are naive enough to think they can repeal it.

[hypnotoad72]

Some understand how it works and hate it. Some don't care how it works and love it.

The world is made up of all types.

And, no, I don't know everything about it. But unless you can say how premium rates will be divvied out and if the customer can't afford it (due to stagnant wages and other factors) then they get fined a huge sum in return while the insurance company dares to whine "But we offered a 'fair premium' and he refused"... that's the bit that some of us don't like.

[Ben37221]

The desire of the republican base is to defeat Obama, even if it means voting against their own interest. In 2010 when the republican party lied to senior citizens and all Americans for that matter that Obamacare was going to kill grand ma. One could have excuse the republican base and senior citizens for voting against their own interest then. But this time around, anyone who will vote republicans without asking them "where are the dead grand ma"? need to have their head examined.
The republican base have gained the reputation of not being able to think through anything more than three words, however, this time around, I am hopefull that at some point, their craziness of voting against their own intrest will have to stop. Think about it, why will any one in their right mind vote for the party that caused the great recession and put people out of work? It is a simple choice-vote for the party that put millions of America out of work, or for the party that is putting millions back to work.
Vote for Romney that send jobs overseas or vote for the President who is bringing back American manufacturing. Why would any American vote for a guy in Romney that is hiding his money overseas so as to avoid paying taxes?

[davcor2]

Here's something quite interesting. I'm a proclaimed Independent but this weekend we met some friends that were very Republican. They slammed The Healthcare Law then the man tells me when his first wife had cancer her insurance was cancelled. When I went to explain the New Healthcare bill would cover preexisting conditions, they blamed the Democrates and the Insurance Commissioner. I think people are not checking facts but merely scapegoating the current administraton for problems that have existed for the past twenty years. Don't make about ideaology, make it about finding pragmatic solutions.

[moretruthnow]

What can you say for anyone who will never want the truth about the Affordable Care Act? When republicans have lied constantly and hatefully against better health care and more benefits you are really rabidly right wing or just as dumb as they want you republicans to be.

[moretruthnow]

I am not referring to you davcor2.

[moretruthnow]

Any Independents that are against the improvements to the deficiencies in our health care are really republicans who watch Fox for their misinformation. The Affordable Care Act means more benefits, young people staying on their parents insurance until the age of 26, no yearly limits, no life time limits, 80 cents out of every dollar must be spent on care. More benefits in Medicare for the elderly. Nothing that republicans say about this is honest. They lie and have been lying about everything that benefits the average American. I really do not care about liars in the right wing media or from GOP politicians who do not care about what the middle class and working poor are going through. We were in a terrible shape by the end of the Bush administration. The GOP agenda of war mongering that harmed America in so many ways, especially financially. We need to care about what is going on in America and help this country prosper. Health care is very important to the welfare of all Americans.

[occupy_cbs]

bmallen3: "you arrogant fool. Just wait until November"




Your outright personal attack only makes you look juvenile, since the rabid "birthers, baggers anad buffoons" are still not the majority, no matter how loud you whine and scream!

[hypnotoad72]

Seconded.

Many people have countered him, several times. Maybe he's never had the time to read peoples' responses (Sometimes I do but none of us is around here 24/7), but maybe not...

[venusvegasvada]

BS. This is no different than the bounce that idiot Gingrich got in South Carolina. Look at him now.

The RNC has been hammering the airwaves pumping their negative garbage and some have been eating it up.

But that's all they have. Negativism. No solutions.

[prm777]

I too would have answered that healthcare is a very important issue to me in the upcoming election. I agree that healthcare costs are way out of control, that companies should not be able to discriminate based on pre-existing conditions and that all American citizens should have access to affordable healthcare. By these statements, you might infer that I'd be voting for Obama, but you are wrong. His healthcare bill does NOTHING to address any of the aforementioned issues, nor is it a financially feasible plan. IMHO, the good points of his bill are that it mandates that everyone purchase healthcare insurance (or be fined/taxed) and it limits discrimination based on pre-existing conditions. However, it falls way short of addressing any of the issues that have led to our current, exorbitant healthcare costs and which will still result in healthcare insurance which is out of reach for many Americans. The Dems refused to address tort reform (caps on medical malpractice lawsuits) because it would alienate their trial lawyer cronies. They refuse to institute mandatory co-payments for all. They refuse to do anything about all of the illegal aliens (non U.S. citizens) who pay no taxes and show up at the emergency room and get free service at the expense of all of us tax-paying, law-abiding citizens. If you aren't going to address the root issues, how can you expect to just "mandate" your ideal scenario. All of us would like to see world-class healthcare available to all -- that's the ideal -- but President Obama's plan does not bring us any closer to that dream and fails to address some of the most basic issues which have led to our current abysmal state.

[moretruthnow]

You can look right back to the republican Congress for why we have not progressed. The filibustering Senate GOP is to blame for why more was not been done. President Obama and Democrats never expected that the GOP would be the most obstructive and anti-American with everything for most Americans. They have not cared what harm was done to the country. Republican bullying my way or the highway behavior by the GOP is harming our people and is harming our economy. The way these republicans have opposed nominees to every position including judges needed all over the nation is beyond the pale.

[hypnotoad72]

His plan was also crafted by Romney's own aides and advisers (I've posted a bunch of links in the past and reposted one of them above)...

Then again, if Obama went forward with single payer from the beginning,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpAyan1fXCE

the reactions he would have had would be IDENTICAL to what he has endured now. It does lend credibility to the claim he has been playing chess; co-opting his opponents ideals as means to show the nation just how his opposition truly is.

Obama should be able to mop the floor of all their mansions with the opponent when we get to the debates. But it depends on Obama's wording as well, and few people would call him a fool...

You do raise some fair points (illegal aliens, who corporations love to exploit but I'll save that tangent for a more appropriate time and I've mentioned the issue before on a number of occasions anyhow)...

But you're not voting for Obama. Given what you have said, you therefore should not be voting for the guy mentioned in these refresher articles:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/aroy/2011/10/11/how-mitt-romneys-health-care-experts-helped-design-obamacare/

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/10/11/romneys-advisers-met-with-obama-to-help-craft-obama-care/

Obama has the "chess" and "bipartisan" cards to play in this dumb game of politics. What cards does Romney have to use, since those have swayed you from Obama? So far, Romney has nothing but flip-flopping and letting his people work with Obama for his own benefit and that's not going to get Romney very far as a result.

[occupy_cbs]

USSAmerikan: "We, the people..."




LOL!

You rabid "birthers, baggers and buffoons" are no more WE THE PEOPLE in this polarized and divided country, so get over yourselves!

[moretruthnow]

There is no tax. It is a penalty for anyone who can afford health care insurance but chooses not to. Then there is a fee for that person or anyone else like him/her. It is a justifiable fee for the good of everyone else who does buy health care.