What They Told Us: Reviewing Last Week’s Key Polls - Week Ending July 22, 2017

Repeal, replace, tweak or do nothing at all? The fate of Obamacare seems more uncertain than ever.

After another failed attempt by Senate Republicans earlier this week to bring their latest health care replacement bill to the floor for a vote, President Trump announced a new plan to “let Obamacare fail” and come up with a new plan later.

Fifty-two percent (52%) of Likely Voters say it would be better to leave Obamacare alone rather than repealing it completely if Congress and the president can’t make the fixes they want to it. Forty-one percent (41%) want repeal.

Voters feel this way despite the fact that only 27% consider the law a success.

Just 13% of voters in May said they want to leave the health care law as is, while 31% want repeal. Most (54%) feel that Congress and the president should go through Obamacare piece by piece to improve it.

More voters than ever view Obamacare favorably and fewer expect the quality of care to suffer, but most still predict health care costs will keep rising. 

Despite their control of both chambers of Congress, Republicans have been unable to agree on any significant legislation this year and have failed to advance any of President Trump's reform agenda. While voters continue to favor major spending cuts, they are now much less confident than they were earlier in the year that those cuts are coming. 

Most voters still support thoughtful spending cuts in every area of the federal government, but differ across partisan lines over proposals to leave some cuts off the table. 

Democrats feel more strongly than others do that entitlement programs should be left off the table when it comes to spending cuts. Despite news from the newly released Social Security trustee’s report that the Social Security trust fund will be depleted by 2034, voters like the program more than ever before and have more faith that they will receive their promised benefits.

Voters still place preference on a smaller, more hands-off government than on a larger, more hands-on one.

But then only one-in-four voters think the American government today has the consent of the governed.

Despite wall-to-wall media coverage of the Trump-Russia allegations, just 26% of voters rate them as the most serious problem facing the nation. Eighteen percent (18%) say that of the economy, while 16% see Obamacare as the biggest problem.

Here’s some good news to end the week on: Americans are feeling better about their own lives than they have in over a decade.

In other surveys this week:

-- Just 33% say the United States is heading in the right direction.

-- Voters don’t think Vice President Mike Pence would do a better job than Trump and say even if he did become chief executive, the media would be nearly as biased against him as they are against Trump.

-- Kid Rock, Kanye West and The Rock are among the recent celebrities who have announced an interest in running for political office. But only seven percent (7%) say they would be more likely to vote for a prominent entertainer who runs for public office.

-- Trump recently gave a speech in Poland in defense of Western civilization. While some in the media criticized the president's speech as too nationalistic and even racist, others called it powerful and Ronald Reagan-esque. So, what might the 40th President of the United States have to say about Trump's speech? That's the subject of this week's Rasmussen Minute.

-- Most Americans still believe it’s important for young people to participate in sports, though that number’s been slightly on the decline over the past five years.

-- More than half of Americans are avid sports fans, but most would rather enjoy sporting events in the comfort of their own home than in the stadium.

Visit the Rasmussen Reports home page for the latest current polling coverage of events in the news. The page is updated several times each day.

Remember, if it's in the news, it's in our polls.