Poll: Americans Split on Supreme Court Health Care Ruling

The Supreme Court's nearly split decision on the new health care law is mirrored by the American public, according to a new survey, the Religion News Service reports. On Thursday, June 28, the high court upheld most of the Affordable Care Act, a massive health care overhaul often considered President Obama's signal legislative achievement. A poll taken days before the high court's ruling found that 43 percent of Americans said the court should not overturn the law, and 35 percent hoped it would. The Public Religion Research Institute poll also found that one in five Americans (21 percent) had no opinion on what the court should do. This shows, said Robert Jones, PRRI's CEO, "that many Americans simply may not know what it would mean for the law to be upheld or overturned." More than half of white evangelicals (52 percent) favored overturning the law. White mainline Protestants were more divided, with 44 percent favoring an overturn and 34 percent opposed. Among Catholics, 46 percent hoped the law would be left in place and 36 percent wanted the Supreme Court to reject it.