Many Republican activists have voiced concern over the Romney campaign’s rhetorical stumbles since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld President Barack Obama’s healthcare law. However, voters still overwhelmingly believe the likely GOP nominee’s claim that he will repeal the law if elected.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 80 percent of Likely U.S. Voters nationwide think it’s likely the healthcare law will be repealed if Romney is elected president and Republicans win control of Congress. Just 15 percent see it as unlikely. The figures include 52 percent who believe a GOP sweep would make repeal Very Likely.
This high level of belief is common across all demographic categories.
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Eighty-six percent of conservatives believe a Romney/GOP victory would lead to repeal. That view is shared by 76 percent of moderates and 77 percent of liberals.
On a partisan basis, 88 percent of Republicans think electing Romney means repealing the health care law. So do 77 percent of Democrats and 73 percent of unaffiliated voters.
Most voters favor repeal of the law, an attitude that has not changed since the Supreme Court ruled recently that it was constitutional. But belief that the law is likely to be repealed has plummeted. Approval ratings for the high court fell following the health care ruling.
Only 12 percent of voters think it is even somewhat likely the law will be repealed if Obama is re-elected and Democrats regain control of the entire Congress. Eighty-three percent say an Obama/Democratic victory would make repeal unlikely. The president's health care law was passed by Congress in March 2010 without a single Republican vote.
Americans are evenly divided as to whether health insurance regulation should be handled by the states or by the federal government.
This national survey of 1,000 U.S. Likely Voters was conducted on July 5-6, 2012 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points with a 95 percent level of confidence.
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