House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, flanked by House Democrats, speaks about the Affordable Care Act on Capitol Hill on Jan. 12 | Getty Poll: Obamacare at its most popular on eve of repeal

On the eve of its possible repeal, Obamacare is at its most popular, according to a poll from NBC and the Wall Street Journal released Tuesday.

Forty-five percent of Americans surveyed said they think Obamacare, the outgoing president’s signature legislative achievement formally called the Affordable Care Act, is a “good idea.” Forty-one percent think it is a bad idea.


The poll, conducted between Jan. 12 and 15, started asking about Obamacare in April 2009, and this month marks both the highest percentage of respondents who signaled their approval for the law and the first time that more people surveyed said they like it than dislike it.

Republicans in Congress and President-elect Donald Trump have vowed to repeal the law and replace it with some alternative, although there is no clear consensus on what form that new legislation might take.

The NBC/WSJ poll found that 50 percent of respondents have “little to no confidence that Republican proposals to replace the law will make things better.”

Congressional leaders had first advocated repealing the law immediately and leaving open a window before it would take effect so they can take more time to pass a replacement package. Trump and some others, though, have publicly pushed back on that plan.

Trump also said this weekend that he wants to guarantee that “insurance for everybody” under a Republican replacement. Congressional Republicans had not promised this.

A study from the Congressional Budget Office released Tuesday found that 18 million people could lose their insurance in 2018 as a result of a partial Obamacare repeal.

The survey had a sample size of 1,000 adults and a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.