Poll: 49% of voters disapprove of GOP healthcare bill

June 21 (UPI) -- A poll released Wednesday shows 49 percent of Americans disapprove of the healthcare bill proposed by Republicans to replace the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare.

The Politico/Morning Consult poll comes as Senate Republicans draft their own version of the American Health Care Act behind closed doors. The poll found 35 percent of American registered voters approve of the bill, while the remaining 16 percent do not know or do not have an opinion.

When comparing the latest poll to one conducted in May after the bill passed the House, the number of Americans who approve of the bill decreased from 38 percent and the number of Americans who oppose it increased from 44 percent.

The Senate version of the healthcare bill is being drafted by a group of GOP aides led by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

Democrats speculate that Republicans want to keep details of the bill undercover to prevent a public backlash against the bill, similar to what happened the first time the Republican bill went through the GOP-controlled House and failed to gather enough support.

The poll shows 65 percent of voters want Republicans to work with Democrats to reach bipartisan reforms, while 18 percent want Republicans to only work with other GOP members of Congress.

The poll, which surveyed 2,051 registered voters, was conducted from Thursday to Sunday and has a 2 percent margin of error.

The most recent analysis of the House's version of the bill indicated more than 23 million people would lose their insurance by 2026 if that version was implemented as law, the Congressional Budget Office said.