--- title: Health Care: 81% of Voters Disapprove of How GOP Handles It description: American voters are not happy with Republicans when it comes to the debate over the country’s’ health care and repealing Obamacare canonical: https://time.com/4962063/approval-poll-republican-health-care-obamacare-repeal/ author: Abigail Abrams article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-09-28T22:05:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T11:17:01.787Z article:section: Politics og:title: 81% of Voters Don't Like How Republicans Are Handling Health Care og:description: A majority also disapprove of the Republican plan to replace Obamacare og:url: https://time.com/4962063/approval-poll-republican-health-care-obamacare-repeal/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd4c1fad3784941a8/6988dfd6fb4eac32a6893edb/health-care-protests-republican-gop-obamacare.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5568 og:image:height: 3132 og:image:alt: US-CONGRESS-HEALTHCARE-OBAMACARE-POLITICS og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 81% of Voters Don't Like How Republicans Are Handling Health Care twitter:description: A majority also disapprove of the Republican plan to replace Obamacare twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd4c1fad3784941a8/6988dfd6fb4eac32a6893edb/health-care-protests-republican-gop-obamacare.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 81% of Voters Don't Like How Republicans Are Handling Health Care > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### 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. by [Abigail Abrams](https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams Sep 28, 2017 10:05 PM UTC  Protesters hold signs and shout at lawmakers walking out of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on May 4, 2017 after the House of Representatives narrowly passed a Republican effort to repeal and replace Obamacare. Protesters hold signs and shout at lawmakers walking out of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on May 4, 2017 after the House of Representatives narrowly passed a Republican effort to repeal and replace Obamacare. NICHOLAS KAMM—AFP/Getty Images by [Abigail Abrams](https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams Sep 28, 2017 10:05 PM UTC American voters are not happy with Republicans when it comes to the debate over the country’s’ health care this year. An overwhelming 81% of voters in a [Quinnipiac University poll](https://poll.qu.edu/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=2488) released Thursday say they disapprove of how Congressional Republicans are handling health care. That’s compared to just 11% who say they approve and 7% who say they don’t know. Among Republicans, 66% of voters said they disapprove of how their own party is handling the health care debate, while 25% approve. And 93% percent of Democrats disapprove compared to 4%who approve of the GOP’s job. When it comes to the plan that Republicans have proposed to [replace the Affordable Care Act](http://time.com/4946600/obamacare-repeal-graham-cassidy/), 59% of voters in the survey said they disapprove of it, while 19% approve. Nearly half (44%) of voters also said they believe their health insurance costs would go up under the Republican health care plan. Republicans have proposed a number of plans to repeal and replace former President Obama’s signature legislation over the past several months, but they have [failed to garner enough support](http://time.com/4958079/graham-cassidy-vote-pulled-future/?iid=sr-link4) to pass any of the legislation. The proposed health care bills would have caused millions of people to lose their health care, and the prospect of losing this care sparked many Americans to advocate and [protest against the plans](http://time.com/4835791/senate-health-bill-activists-parents-sick-kids/?iid=sr-link3). While the [latest attempt](http://time.com/4958079/graham-cassidy-vote-pulled-future/) to repeal the ACA is dead, the new Quinnipiac survey shows that this topic is still very important to the American people. Health care was listed as the most important problem facing the country by 26% of voters in the poll, topping categories like race relations (which 15% of voters said was most important), the economy (14%), foreign policy (13%), immigration and terrorism (both 8%). The survey was conducted from Sept. 21 to 26 and included 1,412 voters nationwide. 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