Support for Obamacare Highest in Years, Poll Says

The gap between Americans who support and oppose President Obama’s controversial health care law shrank to its narrowest margin in more than two years, according to a new poll.

A Kaiser Health Tracking Poll conducted in March found that 41% of respondents had a favorable view of the Affordable Care Act—up from 1% in January—and 43% had an unfavorable view. The numbers are a marked increase from July 2014, when the same poll found 53% of respondents viewed the law unfavorably, and they come just ahead of the five-year anniversary of the law’s enactment this weekend. Kaiser has tracked opinion on the health care law regularly.

Support largely fell along party lines, with 74% of Republicans expressing an unfavorable opinion and 65% of Democrats expressing a favorable view. While most people said the law had no direct impact on them, Republicans were far more likely to say it had hurt them than Democrats.

In total, 30% of respondents said that Congress should repeal the law, including 11% of Democrats and 61% of Republicans, while 46% of respondents said the law should remain as is or be expanded, including 72% of Democrats and 16% of Republicans.

Most respondents—53%—also said they were not aware of the Supreme Court case underway that threatens to roll back a key feature of the law.

The poll of 1,503 adults, conducted March 6-12, has a margin of error of three percentage points.