Poll: 57 percent oppose defunding ObamaCare

Voters do not approve of cutting off funding to implement President Obama’s healthcare plan, according to the latest tracking poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation.

In Kaiser’s latest survey, 57 percent of respondents said they disapprove of defunding the law, compared with 36 percent who approve of the strategy.

A group of conservative Republicans is pressing its party leaders to shut down the federal government unless and until Obama agrees to stop implementing his signature legislative achievement. 

{mosads}Critics of the defunding strategy don’t necessarily believe that Congress should quit debating the healthcare law, the poll found. Among those who said they oppose the defunding strategy, just 35 percent agreed with the statement, “we’ve heard enough about the health care law and it’s time to move on to something else.”

Sixty-nine percent said the appropriate way to stop a law is to repeal it and that defunding is “not the way our government should work,” and 56 percent said they oppose defunding the law because “without funding the law will be crippled and won’t work as planned.”

Overall public opinion of the healthcare law remained negative and deeply divided in Kaiser’s latest monthly survey. Forty-two percent said they have an unfavorable view of the law, compared with 37 who have a favorable view.

Forty-four percent of respondents did not know the Affordable Care Act was the law of the land. Small percentages erroneously believed it had been overturned by either the Supreme Court or Congress, and nearly one-third weren’t sure. 

Fifty-seven percent knew the law remains on the books and is being implemented.

But, on a more encouraging note for the White House, more people reported hearing about a new insurance exchange in their state — the centerpiece of the law. One-third of respondents said they have heard “some” or “a lot” about their state’s exchange, an 11-point increase since June.