Trumpcare Doesn't Fulfill President's Promises: Poll

WASHINGTON, DC — As the Senate struggles to craft a health care bill, most of the country has soured on the American Health Care Act, according to a new poll from Kaiser Family Foundation. Republicans in the House of Representatives raced to the White House Rose Garden to celebrate passage of the bill at the beginning of May, but most Americans have an unfavorable view of the proposed law and think it fails to fulfill President Trump's health care promises.

Meanwhile, Americans have a more positive view of the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, which Republicans have pledged to repeal. (For more information on this and other political stories, subscribe to the White House Patch for daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

Around 55 percent of Americans have either a "very unfavorable" or "somewhat unfavorable" view of the Republicans' AHCA, sometimes called Trumpcare, according to the poll. Only 31 percent have a "very favorable" or "somewhat favorable" view of the bill, while 13 percent didn't know how they felt or refused to answer.

Unsurprisingly, most Democrats dislike the law, while most Republicans like it. However, Democrats disfavor the law more than Republicans like it. Around 87 percent of Democrats have a negative view of the law, and only 67 percent of Republicans view it favorably.

These findings come on the heels of a devastating Congressional Budget Office evaluation of the bill. According to the CBO, the AHCA would add an additional 23 million people to the ranks of the uninsured by 2026, compared to current law. On top of that, people with pre-existing conditions would be priced out of the market in certain states, many markets would destabilize, all while the bill offers modest deficit reduction and a massive tax cuts targeted mostly at wealthy families.

Even among those who support the plan, most say that the law falls short of the president's promises for health care. Asked whether the bill fulfills most or all of the president's promises, 75 percent of respondents said it fulfills none or only "some."

The White House has said that the AHCA is only one prong in a three-pronged approach to reforming health care, which may help explain these discrepancies. Notably, the bill is missing a provision that would allow health insurers to sell plans across state lines, which the president famously advocated for during the campaign.

But perhaps most strikingly, the president has repeatedly promised that "everyone" would be covered under his plan. Almost no one appears to believe that the GOP bill would achieve this result.

See the full results of the poll.

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Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images