Poll shows support for ‘Obamacare’ reaching an all-time high

This week’s new Fox News poll asked respondents for their opinions on a variety of people and entities. Take a look at the results among registered voters:

* The Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”): 53% favorable, 42% unfavorable* The Democratic Party: 49% favorable, 46% unfavorable* The #MeToo Movement: 48% favorable, 32% unfavorable* Donald Trump: 44% favorable, 53% unfavorable* The Republican Party: 44% favorable, 51% unfavorable* The Republicans’ 2017 tax cuts: 44% favorable, 35% unfavorable

Among likely voters, support for the ACA now stands at 54% — slightly better than among registered voters — which is an all-time high in this survey.

And that, in and of itself, is a pretty remarkable thing. As we discussed a few months ago, after years of attacks, lawsuits, and sabotage efforts, we’re left with a political landscape in which the Affordable Care Act is more popular than the Republican Party, Republican tax breaks, and the Republican president (who, incidentally, continues to tell people that the ACA is “dead,” all evidence to the contrary notwithstanding).

The same Fox poll, meanwhile, found health care is the top motivating issue for voters in this year’s congressional midterm elections. A new report published this morning from the Kaiser Family Foundation found the same thing.

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As for the political takeaway of results like these, there are a couple of angles to keep in mind.

First, as many vulnerable Republicans scramble, pretending to be progressive health care advocates, it’s not hard to understand the motivation behind the deception. (Whether Americans will be fooled into believing GOP lawmakers who voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act now support its key provisions is a different question.)

And second, when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) declares that Republicans will try again to repeal “Obamacare” if his party maintains its majority in Congress, he’s playing with fire.