After Obamacare vote, John McCain is more popular with Democrats than Republicans, poll says

Eliza Collins | USA TODAY

Sen. John McCain is now significantly more popular with Democrats than voters within his own party.

McCain has a favorability rating of 71% with Democrats, according to a Gallup poll out Monday. That number is 20 points higher than the favorability rating he has with Republicans, who give him a 51% approval rating.

With all voters overall, McCain’s favorability is 58%. That number has jumped 5 points since Gallup polled in August 2015. The higher approval rating is due to a massive increase in support from Democrats — 22 points — since the 2015 poll.

However, McCain’s standing with Republicans has dropped 10 points with his own party in that same time period. McCain got a 4-point bump with independents, but the poll's margin of error is 4 points, leaving that approval rating virtually unchanged.

The Arizona Republican was the third vote against a GOP-led effort to repeal parts of Obamacare last month. Senate Republicans could lose just two votes to pass the legislation, but McCain joined Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska in voting against it. This effectively sank the measure's chances.

McCain, who was diagnosed with a brain tumor last month, made a dramatic return back to Washington to cast the vote that would bring Senate Republicans' bill to repeal Obamacare to the floor for debate. But when the final version of the bill — a “skinny repeal” that would roll back several but not all of Obamacare’s mandates — was up for a vote, McCain voted against it.

This is the second poll this month that shows McCain receiving a boost from Democrats.

A national Quinnipiac University poll found McCain with a 74% approval rating with Democrats and just 39% of Republicans.

Even with McCain's newfound support from Democrats, he has no plans to switch parties.

"It will be a cold day in Gila Bend," McCain told The Arizona Republic when asked earlier this month about speculation that he could leave his party. Gila Bend is a city in Arizona known for its hot temperatures.

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