Americans are pretty keen on the idea of creating a new government-run insurance program , or at least expanding an existing one, in order to make sure everybody can finally get affordable health care.

But Americans are more enthusiastic about proposals to make enrollment in government-run insurance voluntary rather than mandatory. And once Americans hear some of the common attacks that conservatives deploy against government-run insurance schemes, they get more skittish about the idea.

Those are some of the key findings in a new poll from the nonpartisan Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . The results say a lot about why so many Democrats are talking about ideas like Medicare for all these days and why, to succeed, those Democrats still have a lot of work to do.

For the first time in roughly a decade, Democrats rather than Republicans are the ones dreaming and talking about passing major new health care legislation . Thats because Democrats for most of the last 10 years had their hands full trying to stop Republicans from undermining or repealing the Affordable Care Act .

The threat to Obamacare still hasnt disappeared . A GOP lawsuit challenging the laws constitutionality is working its way up through the federal court system while the Trump administration keeps finding new and creative ways to weaken the program . But Republicans cant pass repeal legislation anymore because they no longer control the House of Representatives .