The closer that the Republican bill to replace Obamacare gets to becoming law, the less Americans like it — even when they are Republicans.
A new poll shows a drop-off in public support for the GOP's controversial Obamacare replacement legislation in the days after the House passed that bill by just a single vote.
The bill, known as the American Health Care Act, was approved by just 42 percent of voters before last Thursday's House vote, according to the Politico/Morning Consult poll.
But after the vote, only 38 percent of voters approved of the bill, the new poll found.
And while 37 percent of voters disapproved of the bill before the vote, that had increased to 44 percent of voters on the heels of the vote, according to the poll.
Another 18 percent of voters had no opinion or didn't know about the bill.
"These latest polling numbers on the American Health Care Act could spell trouble for Republicans," Kyle Dropp, Morning Consult's chief research officer and co-founder, told Politico. "There is a notable enthusiasm gap: 29 percent strongly oppose the bill, but only 13 percent strongly support it."
"Moreover," Dropp said, "we saw the number of Republican voters who strongly support the bill drop from 36 percent last week to 27 percent this week."
The poll also found little belief among voters that the bill would actually improve the American health-care system or their own personal health if it were to become law.
Just 26 percent of respondents said they thought the bill would improve the health-care system, compared with 41 percent who believed the system would get worse.
The poll, which questioned 1,996 registered voters, had a margin of error of 2 percentage points.
The GOP bill is now being considered by the Senate. But senators have indicated they could significantly revise that legislation, or start from scratch on their own Obamacare replacement bill.
Watch: Jack Lew on health care bill
