As the Supreme Court prepares to release its decision on the Affordable Care Act in the next few weeks, AEI’s newest Public Opinion Study examines 36 months of surveys about the law from 11 major pollsters. This easy-to-read, short report enables you to compare attitudes regarding several key topics.
AEI Special Report on Health Care
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Among the key findings:
- American opinion of the health care law is generally negative (37 percent favorable versus 44 percent unfavorable in the May Kaiser poll)
- In most polls, President Obama's marks on handling health care are more negative than positive (51 percent disapprove and 44 percent approve in the latest CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll). Still, the public has more confidence in the Democrats than the Republicans to handle the issue. In a March Pew poll, the Democrats had a 16 point advantage over the Republicans.
- Accoridng to Kaiser's May poll, 23 percent thought they or their family would be better off and 31 percent said they would be worse off. More broadly, 34 percent thought the country would be better off, and 35 percent said the country would be worse off.
- Depending on question wording, people express different views about what should happen to the law now. In an April Quinnpiac poll, 51 percent favored repealing the law, and 38 percent wanted to let it stand. In a March Fox survey, 14 percent said they would like lawmakers to leave the law as is, 22 percent wanted to expand it, 28 percent to repeal parts of it, and 21 percent to repeal it entirely.
