Half of voters unlikely to back Congress in defunding reform, survey finds

Supporters of the healthcare reform law got some good news from a survey just released by the healthcare policy briefing website The Morning Consult.

Nearly half of registered voters polled in the survey—47%—said they would be less likely to vote for a member of Congress in 2014 if the member tried to defund Obamacare as part of a federal budget package, compared with 28% who said they would be more likely to vote for the member.

The survey also found that 40% of voters under age 30 said they were “almost certain” or “very likely” to buy coverage through the state insurance exchange created by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

The poll was conducted July 24-26, involving 2,076 participants, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.

Overall, the poll results showed young adults were slightly more optimistic than other age groups about the benefits of the new healthcare law. While 14% of those polled said they thought the law would provide “somewhat higher quality” of care, 26% of those between the ages of 18 and 29 said they believed quality would improve.

On the issue of the law's requirement that employers of 50 or more workers provide coverage to their workers, 66% of those polled said they supported the mandate. Thirty-six percent said the mandate should take effect in 2014, compared with 32% who said it should be delayed and 32% who said it should be repealed.

The bad news for Obamacare supporters—about 80% wanted a one-year or permanent delay of the law's individual mandate.

Follow Steven Ross Johnson on Twitter: @MHSjohnson