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By a 54-41 percent margin, American voters would get rid of the sweeping 2010 health care law if given the option, according to a new Fox News poll.
The poll, released Wednesday, also shows most voters -- 71 percent -- think the more than 15,000 pages of regulations that implement the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, are “way over the top.” Some 19 percent say that number of pages “seems about right.”
The concern about the small mountain of health care rules is bipartisan. Even 56 percent of Democrats call the 15,000 pages of regulations “way over the top,” as do 71 percent of independents and 87 percent of Republicans.
As for the law itself, the poll asks people what they would do with it if there were an up-or-down vote today.
While a 54-percent majority would repeal the law, 41 percent would keep it in place. That’s mostly unchanged from two years ago, when 56 percent said they would cancel it and 39 percent wanted the law to remain (January 2011).
On the law itself views are divided along partisan lines. By a 48 percentage-point margin, most Democrats favor keeping Obamacare (72-24 percent), while Republicans favor repealing it by an even wider 77-point margin (87-10 percent).
Independents also favor repeal, but by a narrower 16-point margin (53-37 percent).
Voters give President Obama negative ratings on health care. By a 10-point margin, more disapprove (53 percent) than approve (43 percent) of his job performance. That’s the lowest rating he’s received on health care since his 13-point negative rating in December 2011 (42-55 percent).
Seven percent of voters say health care is the most important issue facing the country, which puts it well behind the economy (42 percent), the federal deficit (17 percent) and terrorism (9 percent) on the priority list. Health care still tops guns (5 percent), Social Security (5 percent), immigration (4 percent) and foreign policy (1 percent).
These Fox News health care poll results are based on landline and cell phone interviews with 1,009 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide. The poll was conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from April 20 - 22. The full poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.
Medical Marijuana
Almost all voters -- 85 percent -- say it’s okay for adults to use medical marijuana if it is prescribed by a physician.
Still, there’s some doubt about its use: The poll, finds 30 percent of voters think people who smoke medical marijuana truly need it for medical purposes, while nearly half -- 47 percent -- think those people just want to smoke pot.
In general, voters are about evenly divided over legalizing marijuana: 46 percent of voters favor legalization, while 49 oppose. Democrats favor the legal route by 57-39 percent; Republicans oppose it, 62-33 percent.
These Fox News poll results on marijuana are based on landline and cell phone interviews with 1,010 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide. The poll was conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from February 25 - 27. The full poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.
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