A new Heritage Action poll finds broad support for defunding ObamaCare:
- Likely voters support defunding 57%-34%.
- Among those with strong opinions on either side, those who “strongly support” defunding outnumbered those who “strongly oppose” defunding by a 41%-22% margin, signifying much greater intensity among opponents of the law.
- Independents, support for defunding 57%-34%, exactly mirroring the result in the overall sample.
- A large majority, 77% favor either a slow down in implementation or an outright repeal.
- Just 42% of Democrats fully embrace ObamaCare, with 36% agreeing that it should be slowed down, and 17% favoring repeal.
- Only 5% of Republicans and 17% of Independents favor proceeding with ObamaCare fully and without changes.
The poll was conducted on August 7-8, 2013, by Basswood Research in ten Republican-leaning but not safe-Republican Congressional districts -- six presently held by Republicans and four by Democrats:
Steve Southerland, R (FL-2)
Aaron Schock, R (IL-18)
Leonard Lance, R (NJ-7)
Renee Ellmers, R (NC-2)
Patrick Tiberi, R (OH-12)
Greg Walden, R (OR-2)
John Barrow, D (GA-12)
Mike McIntyre, D (NC-7)
Jim Matheson, D (UT-4)
Nick Rahall, D (WV-3)
Only 20% of voters in these districts support going forward with ObamaCare unchanged.
By a two to one margin (60%-29%), voters approve of a temporary slowdown in nonessential federal government operations, which still left all essential government services running.
More encouraging for defunding supporters is that the potential of President Obama forcing a partial government shutdown over defunding ObamaCare will not be blamed solely on Republicans. Thirty-three percent would blame "Republicans in Congress" or "The TEA Party," 41% would blame "Democrats in Congress" or "President Obama," and 17% would blame "all of them." Independents would spread the blame among groups on the Right, 36%, groups on the Left 30% and 26% would blame both.
Heritage Action for America CEO Michael A. Needham said, "House Republicans should be much more concerned with the fallout of failing to defund ObamaCare than with the imaginary fallout of doing so."
The poll found that a majority would be less likely to support the reelection efforts of House members who voted to continue ObamaCare funding while 48 percent said they’d be more likely to support a member who did "everything" they could to slow down implementation of the law.
You can read the poll’s top line results here (PDF link), and the full poll and cross-tabs here (PDF link).
The poll is good news for defunding supporters such as Sen. Ted Cruz.
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