Fifty percent of Americans oppose health care reform's individual mandate clause, which requires the uninsured to purchase health insurance, according to a new Harris Interactive and HealthDay poll.

Of those surveyed, only 22 percent support the mandate, though specific arguments favoring the mandate seem to swing opinion toward support of the measure. In one particular instance, 71 percent of the more than 3,000 adults polled in mid-February agreed "for health insurance to work, it is necessary to include people who are healthy in order to help pay for those who are sick."

"While the individual mandate is still widely unpopular, indeed, by far the most unpopular part of the Affordable Care Act, some arguments in favor of it are supported by most people," says Humphrey Taylor, chairman of The Harris Poll Interactive.