May 16, 2017 02:46 PM UTC

PPP: Trumpcare Killing Republicans Ahead of 2018 Elections

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• by: Colorado Pols

While the GOP-controlled U.S. Senate tries to plot a way forward after the House’s passage of legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act, new data from Public Policy Polling shows the effort doing severe political damage to Republicans nationwide:

PPP’s new national poll finds that Republicans are facing significant backlash over the health care bill that’s having the effect of firing up Democrats and putting them in position to make major gains in the House next year.

Democrats now have a 49-38 lead overall on the generic Congressional ballot, up from 47-41 a month ago. Even more notable though is that among voters who say they’re ‘very excited’ to turn out in the 2018 election, the Democratic lead balloons to 27 points at 61-34. The outcome of lower turnout midterm elections often hinges on which side is more engaged, and Democrats have the clear advantage at this point on that front- 63% of their voters say they’re ‘very excited’ about voting in next year’s election, compared to only 52% of Republicans who say the same.

The American Health Care Act has been a complete disaster politically for Republicans. Only 25% of voters support it, to 52% who are opposed. Even among Republican voters there’s only 49% support for the measure, while Democrats (76%) are considerably more unified in their opposition to it. Voters say by a 20 point margin that they’re less likely to vote for a member of Congress who supported the AHCA- just 27% say they’re more likely to vote for a pro-AHCA candidate, compared to 47% who are less likely to vote for one…

The current health care debate is also stoking new found respect for the Affordable Care Act. By a 53/27 spread, voters say they prefer the current ACA to the new AHCA. And just 29% of voters say they want to repeal the Affordable Care Act at this point, to 64% who would prefer to keep it and make fixes as necessary.

Folks, you can’t sugar coat these numbers. At no point during the long debate over “Obamacare” did support for the law drop anywhere close to only 25%. The strong generic ballot support for Democratic candidates should be especially worrisome for Republicans, who haven’t seen the public this strongly against them since before the passage of the ACA. Congress as a whole scored a dismal 15% approval in this poll–and with Republicans in total control of the White House and Capitol Hill, voters know who to blame.

Anyway, if you’re wondering why Rep. Mike Coffman is flopping like a fish from his premature support for “Trumpcare” to running for daylight, horrifying poll numbers like these are almost certainly the reason.

2018 is setting up to be an electoral bloodbath.