Half of all voters in the U.S. say the Affordable Care Act is a very important issue in the 2024 presidential election.
A ballot recently released through the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), a nonpartisan organization promoting more powerful methods of physical care in the U. S. , is a nonpartisan organization promoting more powerful methods of physical care in the U. S. The U. S. Affordable Care Act (ACA) shows that if former President Donald Trump makes ending the Affordable Care Act (ACA) a priority in his 2024 campaign, he will do so to his own detriment.
The ACA, known as Obamacare, eases the burden on many Americans by subsidizing their spending on fitness insurance. The law also prohibits insurers from denying policies based on a person’s pre-existing fitness conditions.
The law isn’t perfect: Progressive critics of the ACA point out that it empowers personal health insurance corporations and fails to bring the country closer to a single-payer health care option. But Trump’s comments last month suggest he is willing to abandon the law entirely.
As president, Trump pushed legislation to end the ACA. However, three Republican senators joined with Democrats to stop the repeal, and Republicans largely gave up trying to repeal the law afterward.
In late November, Trump reinvigorated his calls for eliminating the ACA on his social media site Truth Social.
“We’ve had some Republican senators who campaigned for six years opposing this task and then raised their hands not to finish it,” Trump said in his message. “It was a low point for the Republican Party, but we will never give up!
Trump’s comments could reignite interest in an issue that Republicans — who have failed dozens of times to end the ACA — have tried to back away from, as they have come to see repeal of the law as a political liability. Indeed, at the start of this year, the idea of pushing for repeal was so adamantly rejected by Republicans that many doubted it would be an issue in the 2024 presidential election at all.
“I haven’t noticed any evidence that [potential Republican presidential candidates] are going to challenge a 12-year-old law at this point,” said Sen. J. D. Vance in February.
The KFF ballot released over the weekend suggests that Trump, if he continues to push for repeal in the GOP primaries and eventual general election season, will hurt his goal of defeating President Joe Biden next fall.
According to the poll, inflation and household spending are the most sensible considerations for most of the electorate. But health care affordability comes in second, with 80% of the electorate describing it as a “very important” issue of utmost importance to the presidential race.
The ACA itself is of less importance to the electorate. But while the law hasn’t been widely debated or made headlines over the past year, nearly a portion of the electorate (49%) still sees it as a deciding factor for elections.
That number could go up if threats to the law from Trump or other lawmakers continue. The poll also shows that 6 in 10 voters say Democrats are more trustworthy in handling issues pertaining to the ACA.
Other polls show that the fitness law is widely popular: A poll conducted in May of this year found that 59% of voters view the ACA favorably, while 40% have an unfavorable view of the law.
Democratic Party campaign strategists have indicated they are trying to make Trump’s call to end the ACA a major topic of discussion on the campaign trail. In late November, the Biden campaign produced a political ad featuring a pediatric nurse praising the steps taken by the administration to lower prescription drug prices. and caution against repealing the ACA.
“I don’t need to go back to that concept,” the nurse says in the ad. “We can’t go back. “
Chris Walker is a news writer at Truthout, and is based out of Madison, Wisconsin. Focusing on both national and local topics since the early 2000s, he has produced thousands of articles analyzing the issues of the day and their impact on the American people. He can be found on Twitter: @thatchriswalker
Get daily news, in-depth reporting and critical analysis from the journalists, activists and thinkers who are working to improve our world..