Obama health reform law goes on trial amid deeply split public opinion

Public opinion polls on Obama's health reform law are murkier than Republican leaders claim. True, a majority of the public sees the individual mandate as unconstitutional, but Americans like many of its other provisions.

Whatever you call it ? the Affordable Care Act, health-care reform, Obamacare ? one aspect of President Obama?s signature health-care law is taken almost as if etched in stone: Americans ?don?t like it, they think it?s unconstitutional, and they want it repealed,? as Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell put it in the GOP?s weekly television address last week.

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As the US Supreme Court begins three days of argument over the 2010 health-care reform law, a close reading of several recent opinion polls shows that public sentiment may be more complex than that ? and may complicate Republicans? push to make health care a central part of their political agenda through November.

The crux of the matter? Americans see the individual mandate, the law?s requirement that almost every American buy health insurance or pay a penalty, as unconstitutional.

At the same time, the overall law ? with popular measures like the ability to keep children on a parent?s health-insurance policy through age 26 ? either divides public opinion or tilts slightly toward Democrats' positions. ?

Americans have consistently shown a constitutional concern with the health-care law. Earlier in Senator McConnell?s weekly remarks, for example, he cited a February poll conducted by Gallup/USA Today?in which 72 percent of respondents said they believed that the individual mandate is unconstitutional. A poll released Monday by The Hill newspaper found half of voters believe Mr. Obama?s health-care law should be overturned, versus 42 percent who say it should be upheld. A March 14 poll by Pew Research shows similar results ? 41 percent ?approve? of the individual mandate, while 56 percent ?disapprove.?

Those same polls, however, show that overall public opinion about the law is more evenly divided.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/P3byqfo7DPY/Obama-health-reform-law-goes-on-trial-amid-deeply-split-public-opinion

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