Americans Divided on Health Law

By NEIL KING JR. And DANIEL LIPPMAN

Slightly more Americans than not think the federal health-care overhaul was a bad idea, but divisions run deeper among voters over whether the Supreme Court should overturn the law.

Slightly more Americans than not think the federal health-care overhaul was a bad idea, but divisions run deeper among voters over whether the Supreme Court should overturn the law. Neil King has details on The News Hub. Photo: AP.

With the court's decision on the law set for Thursday, nearly four in 10 Americans told a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll that they would have "mixed feelings" if the justices struck down the whole law. Just over a quarter said they would be very pleased, while 17% said they would be very disappointed by that outcome.

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People protest over the healt-care law in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington this week.

The health-care law has stirred deep passions on both sides of the partisan divide, including among some liberals who think it didn't go far enough. More than half the states have challenged the law as unconstitutional.

Yet beyond the furor, public opinion toward the law has remained remarkably steady since the bill squeaked through Congress and was signed by President Barack Obama in March 2010.

Just over four in 10 Americans now say it was a bad idea, down from 48% the month it became law, while 35% now praise it as a good idea. Nearly a quarter of all Americans have no opinion, up from 15% in March 2010.

On the central issue of the individual mandate requiring most Americans to have health insurance or pay a penalty, 55% said it would make no difference either way if that provision was struck down. A quarter of Americans said they or their family would be hurt if the mandate was overturned, compared with 18% who said such a move would help their family.

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"I would keep it in place; it's not the greatest idea, but at least for a person like me who doesn't have health insurance, I'd rather have it," John Kenyon, a 28-year-old Democrat from Kissimmee, Fla., said of the law.

Danny Phillips, a 48-year-old Republican from Doswell, Va., hopes to see the law overturned. "I don't think the government should force people to buy something or penalize them for not doing so," he said. "I just think [Obama's] just been too much into big government."

Despite a plurality who support overturning the health-care law, a larger number still puts more trust in the Democratic Party to handle the country's health-care system. Asked which side would do the better job handling health care, 41% picked the Democratic Party compared with 28% for the Republicans. Nearly three in 10 Americans said both parties were either equally qualified, or equally disqualified, for the job.

The survey, conducted by the polling organizations of Democrat Peter D. Hart and Republican Bill McInturff from June 20 to June 24, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

Write to Neil King Jr. at neil.king@wsj.com and Daniel Lippman at daniel.lippman@wsj.com

A version of this article appeared June 27, 2012, on page A4 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: More Americans Favor Striking Down Health-Care Law.