Donald Trump has been on the warpath against the Affordable Care Act for a long time now, and the MAGA crowd of Republican officials is still 100% behind his call to replace the ACA. The thing is, a good amount of MAGA voters know that Trump doesn’t have a plan to replace the ACA, and sizable shares of Republican voters want to keep its key protections.
This month’s KFF health survey finds the ACA with an almost record-high approval of 59% among registered voters. That figure includes most Democrats (87%) and independents (55%) as well as 33% of Republicans, the highest level of GOP support since the law passed. And one of the law’s key protections—ensuring coverage for people with preexisting conditions—enjoys majority support among Republicans, with 54% saying it is “very important” to them and 35% saying it is “somewhat important.”
What those Republicans also know is that Trump doesn’t have a plan for health care. “A majority of voters, including seven in ten Republican voters, say they do not think President Trump has a health care plan to replace the ACA (42%) or that they are not sure if he has a plan (43%),” KFF writes. And just 35% of self-identified MAGA Republican voters believe that he’s got a plan to replace the law.
Health care remains a potent issue in this election year. For instance, KFF finds that 80% of voters believe it’s “very important” for 2024 presidential candidates to address health care affordability. Even key Republicans in the Mississippi legislature see that, and they’re pushing for Medicaid expansion against the wishes of MAGA Gov. Tate Reeves, who’s all in with Trump.
Reeves’ comments come despite the fact that conservatives in Mississippi’s legislature wrote the legislation to expand Medicaid. And state House Speaker Jason White responded to Reeves tweet, telling Mississippi Today, “My position’s been pretty clear on the fact that we were going to explore and look at Medicaid as it affects hard-working, low-income Mississippians.”
It will never hurt Democrats to lead on health care, especially after fighting so hard to gain and keep the ACA’s level of protection. Public opinion remains with them. As KFF writes, “Half of the public say they would like to see the next president and Congress expand what the ACA does. A smaller share wants to keep the law as it is (16%) and about a third want to either scale back what the law does (14%) or repeal it entirely (18%).”
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