Despite widespread publicity, two independent studies show many people don’t know or don’t care about the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on President Barack Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
Independent studies by Pew Research Center and Kaiser Health showed many citizens didn’t know the Supreme Court issued a ruling on June 28, and others didn’t know the ruling’s outcome.
The Pew survey found 55 percent of Americans knew the law was upheld, 30 percent were unsure and 15 percent thought the law was found
unconstitutional.
This is despite 77 percent of those surveyed saying they were following the court’s decision “very closely.”
Similarly, the Kaiser study found only 59 percent knew the Supreme Court upheld the law, 18 percent thought the court hadn’t acted and 17 percent were unsure.
A majority of those polled are also tired of the debate. Kaiser found 56 percent of the public said opponents should stop trying to block the law and deal with other issues.
Laura Moyer, Louisiana State U. political science professor, said in an email that the results weren’t surprising because polls usually show Americans have low levels of knowledge about the Supreme Court.
“Even for a high-profile case like this, most people are not paying attention,” Moyer said.
She also said the fact that CNN and Fox News initially reporting the law was rejected instead of upheld could have contributed to the confusion. The Supreme Court’s case syllabus, a three-page summary of the court’s opinion, according to Moyer, precedes the lengthy verdict.
“It appears that the reporters for CNN and Fox stopped reading the case syllabus at the bottom of page two … and the conclusion that the individual mandate was constitutional under the
Constitution’s taxing power appeared at the top of page three,” she said.
Both polls still showed an almost even split between support and opposition of the ruling.
Pew reported 36 percent of those surveyed approved of the decision, while 40 percent disapproved.
Likewise, Kaiser’s poll said 47 percent approved and 43 percent disapproved, a “statistical tie,” according to Kaiser Health News.
Cami Johnson, LSU engineering junior, said she was aware of the ruling and knew it was upheld, though she doesn’t follow the law “closely enough.”
“I would say I understand the basics of what is going on with the healthcare law, but I would also definitely not pretend to understand all of it,” Johnson said.
Pew’s survey was taken June 28 through July 1, sampling 1006 adults with a percent error of 3.6 points, and Kaiser’s was taken June 28 through 30, sampling 1,239 adults with a margin of error of +/- 3 percentage points.