Obamacare's never been more popular — and GOP still plans to kill it

Public support for Obamacare has never been higher, according to a new Fox News poll. The outpouring of good will for the landmark Democratic legislation comes as Republicans scramble with with how to deal with the calculus as midterm elections approach.

Incredibly, in the Senate, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is openly discussing trying again to repeal the affordable healthcare act in 2019.

Lamenting that the GOP’s failure to take away protection from millions of Americans is a great “disappointment,” McConnell says Republicans are “not satisfied with the way Obamacare is working.”

He vows to forge ahead to undo Obamacare, despite the fact 54 percent of Americans now support the legislation. That’s up nearly 20 points in just the last three years, according to the Fox News survey.

“If we had the votes to completely start over, we’d do it,” he said. “But that depends on what happens in a couple weeks.”

In other words, if Republicans keep or expand their majorities in Congress, they’re coming after Obamacare — again.

Democrats are clearly viewed by voters as the health care champions. Overall, a majority disapproves of how Trump is dealing with health care.

And what’s the number one issue for voters this November? Health care, says the Fox News poll.

This week, McConnell even defended the Trump administration’s lawsuit that seeks to undo protection of insurance for pre-existing health conditions — the most popular part of Obamacare, with 75 percent of Americans supporting them.

“Our candidates are able to deal with it,” McConnell said.

That might be the view from the McConnell bubble, but in scores of campaigns across the country, panicked Republican candidates are suddenly trying to morph into Democrats on the issue of health care.

Having concluded that they’re on the wrong side of a popular issue, Republicans are in damage control mode.

“Republicans around the country have begun campaigning on safeguarding insurance protections for people with preexisting medical conditions, a pillar of President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act — even though the GOP spent years trying to repeal the law,” the Washington Post reports.

This, of course, comes after Republicans have relentlessly hammered the law for years, using Obamacare as a rallying cry to stir up anti-government panic among the conservative masses.

But now the tide has turned, and lots of Republicans are scrambling in search of electoral protection.

Republicans like Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley and Pennsylvania Rep. Lou Barletta, both running for the Senate, as well as Gov. Scott Walker, who’s seeking re-election in Wisconsin, have all tried to fashion themselves into protectors of health care and defenders of those with pre-existing conditions.

But not only have all three opposed Obamacare over the years, they’ve all either actively voted to repeal it or joined legal actions to dismantle it.

There’s no question health care will dominate the November elections. And Republicans are on the defensive.