{"id":13688,"date":"2015-03-04T07:00:28","date_gmt":"2015-03-04T12:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/opinions-on-obamacare-remain-divided-along-party-lines-as-supreme-court-hears-new-challenge\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T03:20:16","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T08:20:16","slug":"opinions-on-obamacare-remain-divided-along-party-lines-as-supreme-court-hears-new-challenge","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2015\/03\/04\/opinions-on-obamacare-remain-divided-along-party-lines-as-supreme-court-hears-new-challenge\/","title":{"rendered":"Opinions on Obamacare remain divided along party lines as Supreme Court hears new challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Views<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

After clearing a major legal hurdle with the Supreme Court three years ago, the Affordable Care Act faces another high court battle this week that could deal a major blow to the law. This time, the question is whether four words<\/a> \u2013 \u201cestablished by the state\u201d \u2013 are enough to invalidate a vital part of the health care law.<\/p>\n\n

About five years after President Barack Obama\u2019s signature health care law passed, more than 11 million Americans have signed up for health insurance<\/a> through the program. And public opinion has remained steady: A greater share disapproves (53%) than approves (45%) of the ACA, also known as Obamacare, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted<\/a> Feb. 18-22. As was the case even before the original bill came up for a vote in Congress<\/a>, public opinion regarding the program continues to fall along party lines, with nearly nine-in-ten Republicans (87%) against the 2010 health care law and roughly eight-in-ten Democrats (78%) in support of it. Independents disapprove of the ACA by a margin of 58%-39%.<\/p>\n\n

\"Last<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

Recently, Americans said they had been starting to see the effects of the health care law in action. Those who said it has had a negative effect on the country overall outnumbered those who said it has been positive by 45% to 33%, according to a September survey<\/a>. Just 18% said the law hadn\u2019t had much of an effect on the country.<\/p>\n\n

When it came to the law\u2019s effect on people personally, however, most Americans (54%) said the health care law had not<\/em> had an effect on them or their family up until that point. About one-in-four Americans (26%) said the impact of the law on them personally had been negative, compared with 19% who said it had been positive.<\/p>\n\n

This week\u2019s Supreme Court case, King v. Burwell<\/em>, will decide whether the federal government can subsidize health insurance for some lower- and middle-income people living in states that chose not to establish their own exchanges. Some predict that the entire health care law will be on \u201clife support\u201d<\/a> if the court invalidates the federal subsidies. Thirty-four states\u2019 exchanges would be upended and more than 6 million would lose the subsidies that help them afford their health insurance.<\/p>\n\n

\"Views<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

The Supreme Court\u2019s decision in the case could impact how the public views the institution. Americans\u2019 views of the high court are near their lowest point in at least the past few decades. As the court has handed down decisions on highly politicized cases in recent years, it has seen ebbs and flows in support from Democrats and Republicans.<\/p>\n\n

For example, after the Supreme Court ruled to keep intact much of the health care law in summer 2012<\/a>, 64% of Democrats said they viewed the court favorably, compared with just 38% of Republicans. But after the court\u2019s session last June, which included a conservative victory on contraception in the Hobby Lobby<\/em> case, the court\u2019s favorability rose to 53% among Republicans and fell to 52% among Democrats. Overall, we found in that survey last July<\/a>, about half of the public (52%) had a favorable opinion of the Supreme Court and 38% viewed it unfavorably.<\/p>\n\n

The public remains just as divided about the ideology of the nine-member group as two years ago. About as many say the court is liberal (26%) as conservative (27%), while a 38% plurality calls it \u201cmiddle of the road,\u201d relatively unchanged from 2012.<\/p>\n\n

\"ACA<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

Going forward, there are mixed views about what will happen with the health care law. In last month\u2019s Pew Research Center survey, the public was divided in predicting the ACA\u2019s fate: Half (50%) said its major provisions \u201care probably here to say,\u201d while 45% thought they \u201cwill probably be eliminated.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Republicans and Democrats are split regarding the law\u2019s fate. About six-in-ten Republicans (58%) expect the law\u2019s major provisions to be eliminated, but 38% don\u2019t; an identical 58% of Democrats think the important parts are here to stay, but 36% predict they will be eliminated.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nearly nine-in-ten Republicans are opposed to the 2010 health care law and roughly eight-in-ten Democrats support it. Most Americans say the ACA has not directly affected them or their family.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"sub_headline":null,"sub_title":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"apple_news_api_pending":"1713063806","relatedPosts":[],"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0},"categories":[],"bylines":[754],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[467],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[515],"research-teams":[520],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-13688","short-read","type-short-read","status-publish","hentry","bylines-seth-motel","formats-short-read","regions-countries-united-states","research-teams-politics"],"label":"Short Read","post_parent":0,"word_count":640,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2015\/03\/04\/opinions-on-obamacare-remain-divided-along-party-lines-as-supreme-court-hears-new-challenge\/","art_direction":{"A1":{"id":25358,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/03\/FT_acaApprove.png","url":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/03\/FT_acaApprove.png?w=314&h=317&crop=1","width":314,"height":317,"chartArt":false},"A2":{"id":25358,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/03\/FT_acaApprove.png","url":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/03\/FT_acaApprove.png?w=268&h=151&crop=1","width":268,"height":151,"chartArt":false},"A3":{"id":25358,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/03\/FT_acaApprove.png","url":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/03\/FT_acaApprove.png?w=194&h=110&crop=1","width":194,"height":110,"chartArt":false},"A4":{"id":25358,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/03\/FT_acaApprove.png","url":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/03\/FT_acaApprove.png?w=268&h=151&crop=1","width":268,"height":151,"chartArt":false},"XL":{"id":25358,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/03\/FT_acaApprove.png","url":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/03\/FT_acaApprove.png?w=314&h=355&crop=1","width":314,"height":355,"chartArt":false},"social":{"id":25358,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/03\/FT_acaApprove.png","url":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/03\/FT_acaApprove.png?w=314&h=355&crop=1","width":314,"height":355,"chartArt":false}},"_embeds":[],"watchers":[],"table_of_contents":[],"datacite_doi":"","prc_seo_data":{"title":"Opinions on Obamacare remain divided along party lines as Supreme Court hears new challenge","description":"Nearly nine-in-ten Republicans are opposed to the 2010 health care law and roughly eight-in-ten Democrats support it; most say the law has not affected them.","og_title":"Opinions on Obamacare remain divided along party lines as Supreme Court hears new challenge","og_description":"Nearly nine-in-ten Republicans are opposed to the 2010 health care law and roughly eight-in-ten Democrats support it. 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