Poll: Individual Coverage Mandate Least Popular Part of Health Care Law

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R)
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The health care bill that passed earlier this year continues to be a divisive and generally unpopular piece of legislation as a whole. But a CNN poll out today indicates that the broad unpopularity may in part be due to just one of the bill’s provisions — the individual mandate.

When asked specifically about three major provisions contained in the health care law, only the one requiring all Americans to have health insurance was opposed by a majority of respondents to the poll. Thirty-eight percent said they supported that provision, versus 60% who were opposed.

By contrast, 61% of respondents were in favor of preventing insurance providers from dropping coverage for patients who become seriously ill, versus 39% who opposed that piece of the bill. Respondents were also in favor of the provision preventing insurers from denying coverage for preexisting conditions by a 29 point margin, 64%-35%.

Yet despite the overwhelming support for two of the three provisions presented in the poll, 54% of respondents said they had a generally unfavorable opinion of the law as a whole, while 43% had a favorable opinion. That seems to suggest that while Americans largely favor pieces of the health care overhaul, their skepticism of the individual mandate trumps their support for those other reforms.

The individual mandate has been perhaps the most contentious aspect of the health care bill, with critics deriding it as an example of big government run amok. Twenty states have joined forces to challenge the legislation in court, and several attorneys general have brought separate lawsuits. Earlier this month, a federal judge ruled in Virginia ruled that the individual mandate was unconstitutional, siding with the state’s attorney general, Ken Cuccinelli (R).

Among Democrats surveyed in the poll, 54% said they supported the individual mandate. Support was far lower among independents and Republicans, with just 34% and 22% of those respondents supporting the provision, respectively.

Since as far back as July 2009, most poll’s have found Americans typically opposed to the health care bill as a whole. The current TPM Poll Average pegs opposition to the bill at 50.8%, compared to 39.5% who support the legislation.

The CNN poll was conducted December 17-19 among 1,008 adults nationwide. It has a margin of error of 3.0%.

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