A new USA Today/Gallup poll out today shows that President Obama continues to ride a surge in approval of his handling of health care reform since helping signing historic health care reform into law last month.
While support for the bill itself appears to have fallen back to pre-reform numbers showing a majority opposed to Democratic-led reforms, the numbers continue to show that Obama personally scored a political win when he signed the reform bill, boosting public perception of his handling of a signature issue from the 2008 campaign.
In the February USA Today/Gallup poll — taken before the final bill was passed by the House — just 36% said they approved of Obama’s handling of health care while more than 60% disapproved. The new poll, taken on March 26-28, shows Obama’s health care approval rating has risen to 42% post reform bill, while his disapproval rating has fallen to 54%.
The rising poll numbers come as Obama has continued to brag about the reform bill to crowds across the country. All the public appearances — and the fact that he pushed through a massive entitlement program in the face of total Republican opposition — seem to have convinced many that Obama working hard on fixing America’s health care problems.
It’s too early to tell if that support will do anything for his party, which is facing tough mid-term elections in November. Support for the health care reform bill has remained low since the House passed it on March 21. The current TPM Poll Average for the Democratic reform package shows 51.5% oppose the law, while 40.5% support it.
Evan McMorris-Santoro
Evan McMorris-Santoro has covered politics for TPM since 2009. Before that, he was a reporter at National Journal’s Hotline covering election 2008. He started his career covering local politics at newspapers in TN and his native NC.
Facebook Conversations
Questions about commenting with non-Facebook accounts like Yahoo, or other concerns? Click here to read the TPM Commenting FAQ.