Americans Sharply Split Over ACA Decision

Now that the Supreme Court has upheld the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Americans have shown to be completely split over whether they think the decision was right or not. Regardless, since the law was passed in 2010 Americans have been feeling more confident in the medical system, according to a Gallup poll.

Americans were completely split about over the ACA ruling, with 46% agreeing with the decision and 46% disagreeing, in a separate new Gallup poll. They were, naturally, split very sharply along party lines.

Confidence in the U.S. medical system hit a low of only 31% in 2007; however, confidence in most U.S. institutions dropped during that year. After President Obama signed ACA into law, confidence improve to 40%, where it has stayed.

Americans’ confidence in the medical system peaked at 44% in 2003 and 2004, although the historical level of confidence is only 39%. Typically, Republicans show the most confidence in the system. Almost half (49%) have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in the medical system compared to 44% of Democrats and 34% of independents.

Even after the health care reform law was passed, Republicans’ confidence continued to increase, even while Democrats saw a slight decline and independents saw a large drop.

That confidence in the medical system doesn’t extend to ACA. Respondents were more in favor of Congress to repeal the law entirely (31%) or partly (21%). Only 13% said they wanted to keep the law in place; however, 25% actually said they wanted Congress to expand the government’s role in health care.

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With the upcoming election following shortly after the controversial and surprising ruling by the Supreme Court, health care reform will play a role as a voting issue. However, only a quarter of respondents said they will take candidates’ views on reform into account. Roughly 60% of all Democrats, independents and Republicans said that health care reform was just one of many issues. However, it’s still a issue.

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