A majority of Americans disapprove of the House Republican lawsuit against President Barack Obama, which charges that he overstepped his authority in failing to enforce the Affordable Care Act in a timely manner, according to a new CBS News poll.
The House of Representatives voted last week along party lines to authorize Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to file a suit forcing the president to enforce the law -- in particular the mandate on employers who do not provide health care coverage. Five Republicans joined all Democrats in opposition to the lawsuit.
In the CBS poll, released Wednesday, 54 percent of Americans said they disapproved of the suit, while 37 percent said they approved of it. A similar poll conducted by CNN last month found that Americans disapprove of the GOP effort against the president by a 57 percent to 41 percent margin.
Democrats have called the suit an expensive political stunt that is a prelude to impeachment, which some conservative corners of the party have advocated for. But the public has even less of an appetite for impeachment. According to CNN, nearly two thirds of Americans do not think Obama should be impeached.
In a statement on Wednesday, Obama defended his administration's use of its powers, arguing executive orders on the minimum wage, workplace pay and LGBT protections were necessary given congressional dysfunction.
"The American people don’t want me standing around twiddling my thumbs waiting for Congress to do something," he said. "Wherever I have the legal authorities to make progress on behalf of middle-class Americans ... I'm going to seize those opportunities."
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