Two-thirds of Americans want the US Supreme Court to overturn some or all of the healthcare law, even though large majorities support a few of its major aspects, according to a poll by the New York Times and CBS News.
At the heart of the opposition is the individual mandate requiring Americans to obtain health insurance, the least popular part of the bill and a crucial piece at the center of the court arguments, which began on Monday and was to turn to the mandate yesterday.
In the latest poll, 47 percent said they oppose the law, while 36 percent approve, with the rest having no opinion. The results are similar to previous surveys that have consistently found the law’s detractors outnumbering its supporters.
Keeping the law intact is preferred by one-quarter of those surveyed, largely Democrats, reflecting the deep partisan divide within the overall findings that has persisted since US President Barack Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — which critics label as “Obamacare” — two years ago. And a bare majority of independents, an important swing group in this presidential election cycle, have remained fairly steadfast in siding with Republicans.
The contrast between Americans’ overall view of the law and their view of its component parts suggests that opponents have had more success making their case to the public than the White House has. In recent days, the Obama administration has once again stepped up its efforts to court support for the law, sending out mailings to women in battleground states, reaching out to Hispanic voters, another critical election bloc and enlisting “nurses for Obama” nationwide to advocate for the law.
The Obama administration also parses some new polls — including a Pew Research poll that found nearly as much support for expanding the law as for repealing it — as evidence that Americans overall do not favor gutting the entire law. On Sunday, David Plouffe, the White House adviser, told CNN that officials sensed that Americans did not want to rehash the healthcare battle.
“You ask people, should we go back to square one? People don’t want to do that,” Plouffe said.
However, as has been the case since nearly the inception of the law, much confusion lingers over certain portions of it, underscoring Obama’s struggles to win public support for his benchmark legislation. In the Times/CBS News poll, less than half say they have a good understanding of the law, probably stemming in part from the fact that the provisions attracting the most opposition — like the mandate — have yet to be put into effect so therefore cannot be evaluated in tangible ways.
Yet other aspects of the law attract support. Asked about a provision requiring insurance companies to cover people with a pre-existing medical condition, 85 percent said they approved of that element.
Similarly, 68 percent approved of the provision allowing children to remain on their parents’ policies until the age of 26 and 77 percent approved of a provision reducing the cost of prescription drugs for Medicare recipients.
Still, the poll results echo some of the criticisms raised by Republicans on and off the campaign trail. Robert Fawcett, 49, an independent from Washington state, said in a follow-up interview to the survey that while he favored some portions, the overall bill was too far-reaching.
“The whole way the law was brought about, the length of it, the scope of it, was a wrong step in the wrong direction,” he said. “I believe forcing people to buy insurance is unconstitutional; it’s taking away the choice people have.”
Most Americans say they worry that the law would increase their health expenses and a majority say they are somewhat or very concerned it would limit their access to treatment. In addition, a considerable majority agree with the Republicans’ contention that many businesses would not be able to afford providing coverage to employees and would thus be forced to cut jobs.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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