Call it just one more sign of our cynical times.
A new Washington Post-ABC News poll reveals most of us expect the Supreme Court to rule along partisan lines in June when they rule on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
In the latest survey of its kind – wrapped just this week — half of the respondents told interviewers they fully expected the justices to decide the case on "partisan political views," while only about 40 percent thought their ruling would rest "on the basis of the law."
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And as if the law's popularity needed any further tarnish, the poll also showed only about a quarter of Americans felt the law should be upheld in its entirety. And in a revelation at just how many average Americans lack the most basic grasp of insurance, nearly 30 percent polled wanted the mandate scrapped while preserving the rest of the law. A whopping 38 percent simply want the whole thing tossed. In fact, support for the law has tumbled to an all-time low, according to the poll, with only 39 percent of Americans supporting it overall.
Of course politics play a role in those interviewed, as well. According to the poll, Republicans were more twice as likely to expect the court to rule on the merits of the law while Democrats express a much more cynical attitude, expecting the court to bow to politics.
"I believe the Supreme Court Justices will rule on PPACA based on the law," said Clint Anderson, senior vice president at Assurance in St. Louis. "The President came out and tried to steer the justices on ruling in favor of PPACA on every front. If the individual mandate is excluded from PPACA then I believe the entire bill should get thrown out. There are political pressures from the Justices but they are in place to rule in accordance with the laws of the land. Political leaders have lost all reality on many fronts. A good business mind will know that health care is broken but individuals making healthy decisions are what we need to help fix the problems. Americans are their own worst enemy when it comes to the rising cost of health care.
Of course, there's always the contention that this entire process has been overly politicized from day one.
"There's no denying that the whole process has been very political — from the passage of the Act to the testimony before the Supreme Court and the President's comments after the fact," concedes Jim Kirke at Fringe Benefit Group. "As a result, Americans are very divided on whether this is legislation that will improve our lives or not. With much of the debate centered around the Court's interpretation of the Commerce clause and whether Congress has the authority to create a new law that's not a tax, both sides are very divided. I, too, believe that politics are in serious play here and the politics will get even worse after the Supreme Court's ruling in June."
On a side note, the poll also revisited the President's own favorability numbers, with approval rating topping out at 50 percent, while his disapproval rating fell to 45 percent, the lowest in a year.
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