Poll: House GOP Healthcare Bill Most Unpopular Law in Decades

The House-passed American Health Care Act (AHCA) ranks as the least popular bill in decades.

Chris Warshaw, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor, compiled polling data for major legislation Congress has passed since the 1990s and found that the AHCA ranks as the least popular bill.

Only 28.2 percent of Americans supported the AHCA, which ranks lower than the Clinton healthcare plan of 1993 and the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) bank bailouts of 2008.

Americans’ support for Obamacare fell as low as 38 percent before the bill passed through Congress.

During the AHCA’s drafting, both conservatives and Democrats came out against the bill. Conservatives argued that the bill was a milquetoast repeal of Obamacare and often referred to the bill as “Obamacare-Lite” and “Ryancare.” Democrats chided the bill for removing protections for pre-existing conditions and rolling back Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion.

President Donald Trump told a group of senators after the AHCA passed that the bill was “mean.”

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) explained why lawmakers’ attempts to repeal Obamacare currently faces strong opposition from both Democrats and Republicans. Paul said, “I think you’re going to wind up with what you had with the House bill. About 20 percent of the public’s going to think it’s a good idea. No Democrat’s going to like it; that’s half the public. And half the Republicans are going to say: My goodness, it certainly doesn’t look like repeal.”

2/2) @RoperCenter polling shows that the AHCA is historically unpopular. If passed, it would be most unpopular major law in recent decades. pic.twitter.com/5YnkEqSTOp

— Chris Warshaw (@cwarshaw) May 4, 2017