Poll: More Americans souring on GOP healthcare plan

July 14 (UPI) -- As Republican senators continue to look for the necessary votes to reform healthcare, support for the GOP plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act continues to erode, a new poll shows.

The Kaiser Family Foundation health tracking poll, released Friday, found the number of people opposed to the Republican plan rose to 61 percent in July -- up from 55 percent in June.

A significant number of those opposed, 44 percent, said they hold a "very unfavorable" view of the GOP healthcare overhaul effort.

The poll found 28 percent of respondents, the overwhelming number of them self-identified Republicans or conservative-leaning independents, said they held a favorable view of the plan -- down 2 percent from last month.

Just 7 percent of Democrats held a favorable view of the ACA repeal plan, compared to 60 percent of Republicans. Sixty-three percent of independents held an unfavorable view.

The Kaiser Family Foundation poll was conducted July 5-10. It surveyed 1,183 adults and has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

A separate poll released by Gallup Friday showed the stakes in the healthcare fight are rising. Apart from general dissatisfaction with government, healthcare was the most frequent response when polling subjects were asked to identify the biggest problem facing the country. Sixteen percent of people named healthcare as the nation's biggest problem. Next on the list was the economy, at 8 percent.

The Gallup poll, which has a margin of error of 4 points, mirrors the results of the same survey conducted in May.