With the country only potentially moments away from receiving the Supreme Court's decision on President Obama's landmark health reform legislation -- the ruling is due as early as 10 a.m. this morning -- a new poll suggests most Americans are rather mixed on the whole thing.
According to a new Reuters/Ipsos online poll, most Americans oppose the law, including the so-called individual mandate on which much of the court's decision rests, even though they also support many of its main provisions. The poll, which surveyed close to 1,000 respondents last week, has a margin of error of around 3.5 percentage points, the news outlet said.
According to the poll, 56 percent of respondents are against the Affordable Care Act, and 44 percent favor it. An even greater number, 61 percent, want to squash the mandate, which requires most citizens to buy health insurance by 2014 or face penalties.
However, most people still back many specific provisions of the law. For instance, 82 percent don't want insurance companies to deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions and 61 percent want those under 26 to be allowed to remain on their parent's insurance, according to the poll.
In any case, if online prediction market Intrade is right, the majority might have their way. As of Monday morning, bettors favored a 74 percent chance that the individual mandate, and possibly health reform itself, will be overturned by the court.