Majority disapprove

Poll: Majority disapprove of Graham-Cassidy Obamacare repeal bill

By LOUIS NELSON

A majority of Americans reached by a new poll released Monday said they disapprove of Republican legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare, while less than 10 percent said they believed the GOP proposal would help them.

Fifty-two percent of respondents to the CBS poll released Monday morning said they disapprove of the repeal-and-replace legislation authored by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.). Just 20 percent of those polled said they approve of Republican efforts overall to undo former President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law.

GOP lawmakers in the Senate are expected to rush this week to try to pass the Graham-Cassidy legislation, considered a last-ditch effort at repeal and replace. Time will be of the essence for Republicans, who have until the end of the month to undo Obamacare via a procedure called reconciliation, which would allow them to approve the measure with as few as 50 votes instead of the typical 60 required by the Senate’s filibuster rules.

Already though, the legislation appears to be on shaky ground among Republican lawmakers. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) announced Friday that he would oppose the bill, and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has been vocal with his complaints about the bill. Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), both of whom voted along with McCain to scuttle the previous GOP repeal and replace effort, have yet to take a public position on the legislation, although the former is widely expected to vote “no.”

It remains unclear if a revised version of the bill, details of which were published by POLITICO Sunday night, could alter the GOP whip count. The bill can afford to lose the support of just two GOP senators and still pass with the benefit of Vice President Mike Pence’s tie-breaking vote.

While Republicans are scrambling to make good on their long-held campaign promise to repeal and replace Obamacare, most respondents to the CBS poll said they would rather see the law remain in place or improved. Seventy-four percent of those polled said either that Obamacare should be left as-is or that it has some good provisions but is in need of some changes, while roughly one-in-four said Obamacare has so much wrong with it that it should be done away with entirely.

Of the 32 percent of those polled who said they believe the Graham-Cassidy bill would affect them personally, 25 percent said they believe it would hurt them. Just 7 percent responded that they believe the GOP proposal would help them.

The CBS News poll was conducted from Sept. 21-24, reaching 1,202 adults nationwide via landlines and cell phones. The poll’s margin of error was plus-or-minus 3 points.