Poll: Americans believe politics will influence health care ruling

Listen to this article

By Kimberly Atkins
Dolan Media Newswires

As U.S. Supreme Court watchers gear up for the extended oral arguments in the challenge to the health care law later this month, a new poll reveals most Americans believe the decision in the case will be based more on politics than law.

Three out of four Americans believe politics will influence the outcome of the ruling, according to a poll by Bloomberg National.

When the results are broken down by political party affiliation, independents seem to have the least faith that the justices will base their votes only on the law – 80 percent believe that politics will be the main consideration. 74 percent of Republicans echoed that sentiment, compared to 67 percent of Democrats.

Meanwhile, in a separate survey of Court-watching academics, lawyers and journalists conducted by the American Bar Association, 85 percent predicted that the law would be upheld and that the court would find the individual mandate requirement constitutional, according to the Wall Street Journal’s Law Blog.