A new Pew poll shows that perceptions of both the Supreme Court and President Obama’s signature health care reform law were harmed by the oral arguments at the high court last week.
“While most Americans say last week’s Supreme Court hearings on the 2010 health care law did not change their views of the law or of the Court, they did more harm than good to the image of both,” Pew wrote in their analysis.
Pew interviewed 1,000 Americans after the hearings on the law’s consitutionality last week, finding that they were three times more likely to have soured on both the law and the court itself. Only seven percent of Americans polled said their favorability of the health care reform law increased, while 23 percent said they see it more unfavorably after the hearings. The Court was in the same boat — seven percent said it improved their view, while 21 percent said the opposite.
“These more critical reactions have a decidedly partisan cast,” Pew wrote. “Roughly a third (35%) of Republicans say they have a less favorable opinion of the 2010 health care law after the hearings, compared with just 13% of Democrats. The pattern is reversed when it comes to the Supreme Court itself, with 32% of Democrats saying they now view the Court less favorably, compared with just 14% of Republicans.”
The debate and subsequent legal challenge of the new law has always had a partisan tinge — the case was brought by 26 Republican-led states, while Democrats have mostly defended the law. While Americans have never really been sold on the law as a complete entity, polls have shown that public opinion on the law is rather complicated, with Americans reaching for a middle ground.
