Dems use health care hammer on House GOP plan polls poorly

Targeted Republicans get flak over ACA vote

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Democrats used a bus emblazoned with the words “Drive for our Lives” to gin up opposition to vulnerable House Republicans who voted against Obamacare, with the aim of upending the GOP’S majority in next year’s midterm elections.

The vote to repeal and replace the Obama health care law looms large for 21 GOP lawmakers, including Iowa Reps. David Young and Rod Blum. They represent competitive congressional districts where Democrat Hillary Clinton won or came close in last year’s presidential election.

The collapse of the yearslong Republican quest to dismantle

About 80 percent of respondents to a national poll want the Trump administration to take actions that help the Affordable Care Act function properly rather than try to undermine it.

The nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation released the poll Friday.

Just 3 in 10 respondents want Republicans to continue their drive to repeal and replace the statute. Most prefer shoring up the law’s marketplaces. Obamacare has been a bitter pill for House Republicans who voted for the legislation in May only to see the drive fall apart recently in the Senate when the GOP failed to muster enough votes.

The Des Moines Register’s Iowa poll last month showed President Donald Trump’s disapproval climbing to 52 percent. The increase was driven largely by independents, 59 percent of whom disapproved of Trump’s job performance, compared with 50 percent in February.

Independents, who hold sway in Young’s politically diverse district, want a bipartisan approach to health care.

Now, Young is threading the needle, talking bipartisanship as he faces the reality that Democrats are gunning for him in a state where Trump’s approval is sinking and neither can boast a major legislative achievement.

“We’ve got to pivot for the good of the country to a more bipartisan solution,” the 49-year-old Young, a former chief of staff to Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, said during a visit to far western Iowa. “It’s probably an easier, clearer path.”

Young defended his vote for the House GOP bill, arguing that Republicans added billions of dollars more to help people with pre-existing conditions.

Charlie Neibergall The Associated Press U.S. Rep. David Young, left, R-iowa, speaks with a local resident during a stop in Glenwood, Iowa. After Republicans’ failure to repeal Obamacare, Young is trying to strike a bipartisan tone with voters in his swing district.