Less than 1 in 5 (17 percent) Americans approve of the Senate Republicans' health care bill, known as the Better Care Reconciliation Act, according to a NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll.
More than half (55 percent) of the 1,205 adults surveyed disapprove of the legislation, 24 percent say they have not heard enough about it to have an opinion, and 3 percent say they've heard of it, but are just unsure.
The Senate was slated to vote on the bill this week, but after more Republicans signaled they would reject bill in its current form, GOP leaders decided to delay a vote on the legislation until after Congress returns from next week's July Fourth recess.
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Some Republicans are defecting because a Congressional Budget Office analysis released Monday found if the bill were enacted, 22 million people would lose health insurance over the next decade due, in part, to the bill's rollback of Medicaid expansion.
"With numbers like these, it's not surprising the Republican leadership in Congress is having a difficult time building consensus," Lee Miringoff, the director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, tells NPR.
Breaking down by party affiliation, just over a third (35 percent) of Republicans approve, while 21 percent disapprove, 39 percent say that have not heard enough about it to have an opinion, and 5 percent say they've heard of it but are just unsure.
Only 8 percent of Democrats approve, while the vast majority (78 percent disapprove), 13 percent say that have not heard enough about it to have an opinion, and 1 percent say they've heard of it but are just unsure.
For Independents, 13 percent approve, 68 percent disapprove, 17 percent say that have not heard enough about it to have an opinion, and 2 percent say they've heard of it but are just unsure.
When asked their opinion about what Congress should do with the Affordable Care Act known as Obamacare, 17 percent of respondents say "let it stand;" 25 percent say "repeal it completely;" 7 percent say "change it so it does less;" and 46 percent say "change it so it does more" — though the survey question didn't elaborate on what the pollsters meant by "more," including whether that meant allowing insurers to sell more types of plans on the exchange, including catastrophic plans without all of the "essential benefits."
A separate poll of 1,994 registered voters by POLITICO/Morning Consult found that 38 percent approve of the Better Care Reconciliation Act, 45 percent disapprove, and 17 percent say they don't know or have no opinion of the bill.
More of the survey respondents think the bill will make the nation's health care system worse (41 percent) than believe will make it better (29 percent). More think it will increase costs for their families (42 percent) than think it will decrease those costs (21 percent). Thirty-eight percent think the bill will hurt the quality of health care, and only 26 percent think quality would be improved.
"The tension between moderate Republicans and hard-liners that is playing out in the Senate is mirrored in the polling," Kyle Dropp, Morning Consult co-founder and chief research officer, tells Politico. "While 31 percent of Republican voters think the Senate bill doesn't go far enough in making changes to the health care system, 18 percent thinks it goes too far."
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Katie Kuehner-Hebert
Katie Kuehner-Hebert is a freelance writer based in Running Springs, Calif. She has more than three decades of journalism experience, with particular expertise in employee benefits and other human resource topics.
