We've all heard that Obamacare is or was deeply unpopular with Americans. I don't think so. Its negative numbers always included a sizeable number of people whose opposition to it was because it didn't go far enough, didn't provide enough coverage. They were not people who wanted the government to keep its damned nose out of health care but rather people who wanted Single-Payer or something in that area.
Also, a lot of folks who said they opposed it did want government to enforce something that would lower health costs and make it affordable for all. They just didn't trust Democrats to come up with the best possible plan and bought into the idea that Republicans could do better. Now, they're realizing that the Republicans not only can't do better but don't want to. For all the blather about "a better way," the G.O.P. leadership now seems divided into two groups: Those who want to get rid of all health care plans that help poor people…and those who want to get rid of all health care plans that help poor people but are afraid of how many voters they'd piss off so they want there to be something.
I also suspect that a lot of those who opposed Obamacare opposed Obamacare simply because they opposed Obama. With him out of power, there's less eagerness to wipe out anything he did just because he did it.
As Jonathan Chait notes, a new major poll shows that by overwhelming margins, America wants Obamacare to remain and for government to work at making it better. That's probably what's going to happen, though there may still be a few stubborn attempts to kill it because some politicians have been so hysterical in their opposition and can't move off that position so easily. Also, Trump seems to think he can hold it hostage to get concessions out of Democrats and he's probably wrong.
How long before Republicans turn their goals to (a) just limiting how much rich folks are taxed to pay for this and (b) selling the spin that the Affordable Care Act was always a doomed-to-fail plan and we should stop calling it "Obamacare" and instead call it something that makes it clear Republicans fixed it and made it work?