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How have attitudes about health care changed since the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act?
This “AEI Special Report: Health Care Polls” examines the evidence and compares the poll results.

• Opinions about how the law will affect the country as a whole have declined. In February 2009, 59 percent said the country would be better off. Today, 38 percent give that response.
• Views about whether the law will make things better or worse for individuals and families have changed dramatically. In a February 2009 Kaiser Family Foundation poll, 38 percent of respondents said their families would be better off. Today, 27 percent give that response, while 32 percent say they will be worse off, and 34 percent no different.
• People give President Obama negative marks on handling health care. Still, most people prefer Democrats' handling of the issue to Republicans'.
• The individual mandate remains unpopular.
• The latest poll on the law from the Kaiser Family Foundation shows divided opinions, with 41 percent having a favorable view and 43 percent an unfavorable one.
• Individual pollsters' responses about the legislation move in a narrow range and are remarkably consistent.

Karlyn Bowman is a senior fellow at AEI.

Andrew Rugg is a research assistant at AEI.