Despite efforts by the Obama administration to educate the public on the new healthcare law, support for reform fell to 43 percent in August from 50 percent in July, a new Kaiser Family Foundation poll found. A majority of those polled (70 percent) indicated that they did not like the individual mandate set to force Americans to buy insurance or face a fine.
The law's declining popularity aside, attitudes toward the reform probably will not change how voters vote this November. According to Politico, 42 percent of those polled said reform would be "extremely important" in their voting decisions, up only slightly from 41 percent two months ago.
"Public opinion on health reform has been stuck in a fairly narrow band and is not changing dramatically," Drew Altman, president and CEO of the Kaiser Family Foundation, told Kaiser Health News.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told ABC News Radio prior to the poll numbers being released that she believes misinformation has contributed to dismay with the new law.
"Unfortunately there still is a great deal of confusion about what is in [the reform law] and what isn't," Sebelius said. "We have a lot of reeducation to do."
To learn more:
- read this Kaiser Health News piece
- here's the poll and other findings
- check out this Politico article
- here's the ABC News report