Gallup poll: Obamacare still unpopular

WASHINGTON, May 29 (UPI) -- A Gallup poll released Thursday finds a marked racial divide in approval of the new U.S. healthcare law.

Gallup reported that 76 percent of black respondents approve of the Affordable Care Act, while only 35 percent of white respondents agree. Hispanics are in the middle with 57 percent approval.

Overall, 43 percent of those surveyed said they approve of the law. Only 37 percent said they expect it to improve the healthcare system in the United States, 44 percent said they believe it will make things worse, and 16 percent said it won't make much difference.

Politics also appeared to play a role, with 79 percent of Democrats and only 8 percent of Republicans approving the law, popularly known as Obamacare.

Gallup said attitudes have changed little since the open-enrollment period ended March 31. Approval dipped with the government websites well-publicized problems and came back up when they were fixed.

"Throughout this ordeal, public opinion has remained mostly static and oriented against the healthcare law, suggesting that most Americans have made up their minds on this issue and see no reason to revisit their opinion," Gallup analyst Andrew Dugan said. "This is likely a consequence of the polarizing effect of the law -- Republicans are solidly opposed, while the bulk of Democrats support it."

Gallup interviewed 2,538 adults around the country by phone between May 21 and May 25. The margin of error is 3 percentage points.