Poll: Fewer Americans Support Repeal of Health Care Law

From Rasmussen Reports:

For the first time since Democrats in Congress passed the national health care bill in March of last year, support for repeal of the measure has fallen below 50%.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 47% of Likely U.S. Voters at least somewhat favor repeal of the law, while 42% are at least somewhat opposed. This includes 38% who Strongly Favor repeal and 33% who Strongly Oppose it. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Rasmussen Reports has tracked support for repeal every week since the bill became law. Prior to this week, support for repeal has ranged from a low of 50% to a high of 63%. A week ago, 53% of voters favored repeal of the measure. As with all such changes in tracking poll data, it will take additional data to determine whether this result reflects an ongoing change in attitudes or is simply the result of statistical “noise.”

Similarly, the number of voters who believe the health care law will be bad for the country has fallen to a new low of 45%, down seven points from a week ago. Prior to this survey, belief that the measure will be bad for the country has ranged from 47% to 57% since March 2010.

Thirty-seven percent (37%) say the law will be good for the country and five percent (5%) say it will have no impact.

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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on April 29-30, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Confidence that the health care law is at least somewhat likely to be repealed has fallen to 40%, its lowest level since early last October, and that includes just 10% who say it’s Very Likely. Thirty-nine percent (39%) say repeal is unlikely, with seven percent (7%) who say it’s Not At All Likely to occur. Twenty-one percent (21%) are not sure.

Following Republican gains in the midterm elections and judicial rulings on the constitutionality of the law, expectations of repeal ran as high as 52% in mid-December.

Thirty-nine percent (39%) of voters now believe repeal of the law would be good for the economy, but 32% disagree and think it would be a bad move economically. This, too, marks a narrowing of the gap between the two sides and the first time belief that repeal would be good for the economy has fallen below 40%. Twelve percent (12%) think repeal would have no economic impact, and 17% are undecided.

Voters remain skeptical that repeal will produce more jobs. Only 25% think repealing the health care law would create jobs, but 36% say that wouldn’t be the case. Thirty-nine percent (39%) are not sure. This is consistent with prior surveying for over a year.

The majority of voters continue to believe tax cuts and decreases in government spending will benefit the nation’s economy. But most also still think government spending will go up under the Obama administration.

Voters are narrowly divided when asked whether the federal government should set health care standards for the entire country. Forty-one percent (41%) believe the federal government should establish a single standard for all health care regulations. However, slightly more voters (45%) say states should be allowed to establish their own individual standards for health care regulation.

A number of states are considering or have already passed legislation that allows nurse practitioners to step in for physicians in routine cases. Sixty-seven percent (67%) of voters favor training and licensing of nurse practitioners to expand the level of routine medical care they provide.