Pollster at Rick Scott summit says majority of Americans turned on Obamacare

Polling presented at a summit convened by U.S. Sen. Rick Scott shows the public turning on Obamacare.

“It’s not even a partisan thing. People are unhappy with their health care,” said Curt Anderson of OnMessage Public Strategies. “What’s happened now is people are so dissatisfied with the health care system and they’re starting to turn on Obamacare and realize it doesn’t work.”

OnMessage conducted polling for Rescuing the American Dream, and presented it to attendees at a Washington summit. The polling showed 74% of the public viewed the state of American health care unfavorably. That includes 76% of Republicans, 77% of independents and 74% of Democrats.

Anderson said there’s strong disagreement about the impact of the Affordable Care Act, even when it’s referred to as Obamacare, named after former President Barack Obama.

“It used to be every time we would ask a question about Obamacare, it doesn’t matter what you said in the question, the Democrats would say Obama, we like that,” Anderson said. “Republicans would say Obama, we don’t like that. So it was an even split, not an interesting question.”

The pollster asked respondents if they agreed with a statement that “Obamacare promised to lower health care costs by $2,500 per family, but in reality, health care costs have gone way up, making life less affordable for most Americans.”

Anderson noted that while 54% of Democrats disagreed when the program was called Obamacare, 30% agreed with the statement. Meanwhile, 56% of independents agreed with the statement, while just 34% disagreed. Obamacare remains unpopular with 90% of Republicans.

The pollster found 55% of respondents want to find a “new solution” for health care. Scott has proposed an alternative, he said.

“Obamacare has been a disaster. It’s important to me that people get health care,” Scott told Florida Politics.

As for what the public wants, OnMessage found broad agreement on several policies. About 65% support cutting “subsidies for rich Americans.” Some 72% believe illegal immigrants should not receive free health care or welfare.

Most relevant to Scott’s proposal, 78% of Americans want a system where money flows to patients, not directly to insurance companies, and let them “buy the health care they need.”