Obamacare Dragging Down Sen. Hagan's Popularity in NC: Poll

Obamacare appears to be sinking Democratic North Carolina Sen. Kay Hagan’s approval ratings and her standing against Republican rivals for her job, a Public Policy Polling survey released Tuesday showed.

In the latest poll, Hagan has a 39 percent approval rating, with 49 percent disapproving,  a four percentage point slide from last month, and that in a hypothetical race, she’s virtually in a dead heat against all of her potential GOP rivals.

"This race continues to look like a toss up, but Hagan could definitely use a change of topic from Obamacare to help get her numbers out of this rut," the Democratic pollster’s Tom Jensen said.

The News Observer noted Hagan’s disapproval rating shot up to the 49 percent mark in November amid troubles with the Affordable Care Act rollout and TV ads from conservative political groups against her.

According to the poll, which has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 2.6 percent, Hagan is neck-and-neck with all of her potential Republican opponents: down one percentage point to Heather Grant and Thom Tillis and two points to Mark Harris, Greg Brannon and Bill Flynn.

"Unpopularity of the Affordable Care Act seems to be driving much of her trouble," Jensen told the newspaper. " Only 38 percent of voters in the state overall support it to 48 percent who are opposed, and independents are more against it than the overall electorate at 31/57."

Jensen called independents Hagan’s "main issue," saying with that group, her approval rating is a dismal 30 percent while 56 percent disapprove, and that she trails all of her opponents "by double digits."

The poll numbers on Obamacare’s success show 61 percent of voters think its implementation has been a failure, while just 32 percent think it’s a success, Jensen noted.

"Those numbers have actually been slowly moving in a positive direction for Democrats though," he told the newspaper. "The percentage of voters rating it unsuccessful has declined from 69 percent in November to 65 percent in December to the new 61 percent mark."

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