Moderate and Conservative Democrats Backing Away From Obamacare

Obamacare is steadily losing support among moderate and conservative Democrats, according to a new Washington Post/ABC News poll.

Just after the Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010, 74 percent of moderate and conservative Democrats supported the law, compared to just 46 percent who express support in the new poll, down 11 points in the past year, according to Scott Clement, a survey research analyst with Capital Insight, the independent polling group of Washington Post Media.

By contrast, liberal Democrats have continued to support the law at very high levels: 78 percent in the latest survey.

But the shift among moderates and conservatives is causing an overall drop in party support for the healthcare reform law, according to the poll of 1,002 adults taken July 18-21.

Just 58 percent of Democrats now support the law, the lowest measure of support since the law was enacted. Last year at this time, 68 percent of Democrats voiced support for it. Clement notes that the latest results are similar to those found in recent surveys by Fox News and the Kaiser Family Foundation.

The poll suggested the trend downward in Democratic support could be driven by the administration's recent announcement that the employer mandate requiring companies with 50 or more employees to provide health insurance is being delayed by one year.

According to the Post/ABC poll, 48 percent of survey respondents said the delay means the law is so flawed it should be dropped, but 46 percent dismissed the delay as something that just happens when changes are made to a complex system.