Home » Gallup poll: Americans see more economic harm than good in health law

Gallup poll: Americans see more economic harm than good in health law

The Lane Report Staff

PRINCETON, N.J. (July 6, 2012) — Americans are more likely to say the Affordable Care Act, upheld last week as constitutional by the Supreme Court, will hurt the national economy (46 percent) rather than help it (37 percent), while 18 percent say they don’t know or that it will have no effect, according to a recent Gallup Poll.

The results are based on telephone interviews — both landlines and cell phones — conducted July 2 and 3, with a random sample of 1,061 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.

Views about the healthcare law seem to be tied to political leanings. Sixty-two percent of Democrats said the legislation would help the economy, 20 percent said it would be harmful, and 19 percent of Democrats said they had no opinion. Only 13 percent of Republicans said it would help, 78 percent said it would have a negative impact on the economy and 8 percent said they had no opinion.

Thirty-four percent of Independents said the law would help the economy, 20 percent said it would be harmful and 18 percent had no opinion.

“Not even economists who study this for a living can estimate the ACA’s precise impact on the U.S. economy over the years ahead, given that the bill is huge and multifaceted, and carries with it many assumptions about cost savings and how the healthcare system will react to its provisions,” said a Gallup story about the poll.

After the Supreme Court’s ruling last week, Gallup found that Americans are sharply divided by the decision, with 46 percent agreeing and 46 percent disagreeing with the ruling.

In June, a poll revealed that only 6 percent of Americans name healthcare as a top problem in the U.S., behind the economy, jobs, the deficit and problems in government.