--- title: Obamacare Has Support of Majority of Americans, Poll Shows description: A Gallup poll released April 4 shows 55% of Americans support the Affordable Care Act, the first time the law has garnered majority support. canonical: https://time.com/4725736/obamacare-majority-approval-gallup-poll-healthcare/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-04T21:18:52.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T08:27:04.794Z article:section: Politics og:title: Poll: A Majority of Americans Now Support Obamacare og:description: It's the first time the law has majority support og:url: https://time.com/4725736/obamacare-majority-approval-gallup-poll-healthcare/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt69ccab940818ef0d/6988aab55f570fe75fb22f32/161019_101_obamacare_whatisit.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2034 og:image:height: 1144 og:image:alt: 161019_101_Obamacare_Whatisit og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Poll: A Majority of Americans Now Support Obamacare twitter:description: It's the first time the law has majority support twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt69ccab940818ef0d/6988aab55f570fe75fb22f32/161019_101_obamacare_whatisit.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Poll: A Majority of Americans Now Support Obamacare > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=df4b75c9-1de2-4336-b558-439498050819&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: 10 Days That Define the Obama Presidency: The Affordable Care Act [Watch (HLS stream): 10 Days That Define the Obama Presidency: The Affordable Care Act](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/S8hGNLNB.m3u8) (2:35)  _Published 2017-01-12. As President Obama's two terms in office come to a close, TIME is taking a look back at the most pivotal moments of his presidency._  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Apr 4, 2017 9:18 PM UTC  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Apr 4, 2017 9:18 PM UTC For the first time since the [Affordable Care Act](http://time.com/4173152/president-obama-vetoes-affordable-care-act-repeal/) was signed into law seven years ago, [Barack Obama’s](http://time.com/4710841/obamacare-repeal-barack-obama-statement/) signature legislation has garnered [majority approval](http://time.com/4660227/donald-trump-low-approval-ratings/) among the American people, a new poll shows. [The Gallup poll](http://www.gallup.com/poll/207671/affordable-care-act-gains-majority-approval-first-time.aspx) released April 4 shows 55% of Americans approve of the Affordable Care Act. In November of 2016, right after the Presidential election, only 42% approved of the law. However, just 26% want to keep the law the way it is. The poll found 40% want to keep the law but make significant changes to it. A minority of Americans — 30% — want to repeal the law entirely, according to the poll. Gallup released the poll just two week after Congressional Republicans’ attempt to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act with an alternative, the American Health Care Act, was [pulled from a vote in the House of Representatives because it lacked adequate support](http://time.com/4712725/ahca-house-repeal-votes-obamacare/). The poll had a sample size of 1023 respondents, with a margin of error of +/- 4%. ## Transcript Today after almost a century of try, today after over a year of debate, today after all the votes have been tallied health insurance perform become law in the United States of America. Where the central Promises of Obama's 2008 campaign was to, in a way, complete the American social safety net, specifically for American's who were working, were not necessarily poor, but who could not afford health insurance and therefore didn't have regular medical care. This is something that most other Western nations Provide their citizens with, what the US hasn't historically. And he did this with a massive bill that did that and many other things. Since in the 1960s when medicare and medicate past which basically guaranteed healthcare for the poor and for the elderly, it has been a priority of democratic leaders going back decades To try and extend that to working people. And so when Obama came on the scene, he was really promising to complete this generation long democratic project. He was able to do it because the win in 2008 had been so grand. It had been such a big win. So for a time, we have a filibuster proof majority In the Senate. He had large majorities in the house. Most americans didn't really understand all the parts of Obamacare. It was a very complicated bill. But they had strong feelings. And those feelings tended to follow their political leanings. They were conservative Republican. They were concerned. It looked like government expansion overreach. They were liberal and fans of the president They embraced it. [ UNKNOWN ] For years, the American people have been calling on Washington, to build a bridge away from Obamacare. The story of republican opposition to Obamacare, isn't about Obamacare. It's about the way Republicans decided to oppose President Barack Obama from the very beginning. They lost the ability in some way to shape the legislation to make it more palatable. But they decided that political opposition made permanent campaign was more beneficial that [ UNKNOWN ]. And the biggest strangers, the most visible ones are the ones that are almost certain to stay but even president- elect Donald Trump wants to keep around are we a very popular visitations around children and the young girls staying at their parents house [ UNKNOWN ]. And they'd be getting rid of pre- existing conditions. That was a tremendous change and really just, a dramatic rethinking of a way insurance has been carried out in this country. 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