A new Harris Interactive/HealthDay poll found that support for certain components of President Obama’s health reform law seems to be slowly increasing with time. According to the report, the percentage of Americans polled who are in support of the law’s provision preventing insurance companies from denying coverage to those with pre-existing conditions has jumped to 71 percent from just 64 percent at the end of 2010.

Other provisions of the ACA that are gaining acceptance since November 2010: creating insurance exchanges where people can shop for insurance is up to 59 percent from 51 percent; requiring research to measure the effectiveness of different treatments is now at 53 percent from 44 percent; and providing tax credits to small businesses to help pay for their employees’ insurance is now up 70 percent versus 60 percent.

– Fatima Najiy

The latest Kaiser Family Foundation tracking poll finds that Americans are still split on their support for the Affordable Care Act, “with a slightly higher share expressing an unfavorable (44 percent) rather than a favorable view (37 percent).” Half of all respondents still said they “prefer to either expand the law (31 percent) or leave it in its current form (19 percent), while slightly fewer would like the law repealed, either outright (22 percent) or repealed and replaced with a Republican‐backed
alternative (18 percent).”

Interestingly, the survey also explores why so many — 67 percent — oppose the individual mandate: the most common reasons offered in their own words include that the government shouldn’t be able to force people to do something they don’t want to do (30 percent), that health insurance is too expensive (25 percent), and complaints about the fine for non‐compliance (22 percent):

That top reason sounds an awful lot like a GOP talking point and may say more about the public’s general weariness for larger government than its distaste for this particular provision. But once the requirement kicks in and Americans realize that the law offers a wide array of coverage options without any singular government mandated plan, their trepidation about paying a penalty for going uninsured will likely dissipate.

An earlier Kaiser poll found that people become more supportive of the mandate once they learn more about it. Support substantially grew, for instance, once voters are told that “without the mandate, people might wait until they are seriously ill to obtain coverage, driving up insurance costs for everyone.” Another pro-mandate argument tips the public even more in favor of the provision: “Sixty-one percent of those surveyed support it when told most Americans would still get their coverage through their employers and thus wouldn’t be affected by the mandate.”

A new Kaiser Family Foundation poll finds that support for the Affordable Care Act increased since its lowest approval dip in October, but Americans are still unsure of the actual provisions included in President Obama’s health care reform law. For instance, while 44 percent of voters have an unfavorable view of reform, 50 percent want to expand or keep it in place, with only 37 percent supporting repeal. A majority also favor its most popular elements like easy-to-understand benefit summaries and tax credits for small businesses:

But a surprisingly high number of voters are unaware that these these provisions are actually part of the law, with a majority falsely believing the ACA includes a new public option. A third of respondents also “think the law allows a government panel to make decisions about end-of-life care for people on Medicare”:

Kaiser suggests that public disapproval of the law has less to do with the actual provisions in the law — voters either like them or don’t know about them — and more with the “general disillusionment with the state of the country and Washington politics” (and, I would add, the long drawn out and complicated process of actually passing reform). If that’s the case, then the Democrats have a real opportunity to build support for the measure by highlighting and campaigning on some of its best features, a task that will seem less daunting as a growing number of voters begin to actually benefit from the law.

A new Gallup poll finds that while a plurality of Americans favor repeal — 47 percent to 42 percent — most still believe that it’s the “federal government’s responsibility to make sure all Americans have healthcare,” the same basic pattern found in 2009 and 2010. Fifty-six percent also told Gallup that “they prefer a system for providing healthcare based mostly on private health insurance, rather than one that is government run”:

So while Americans oppose a law called the Affordable Care Act, they support its provisions — the individual requirement and a private system of insurance (expressed in the ACA through state-based exchanges that will offer private coverage.) These elements remain popular despite two years of daily attacks and misrepresentations, which seemed to have only heightened the public’s frustration with the political process that created the ACA, while shielding the actual substance from too much disapproval. All this is good news for reform and suggests that it will only grow in popularity once a larger number of Americans benefit from it.

A recent CNN poll also found that “52% of Americans favor mandatory health insurance, up from 44% in June. [...] 47% oppose the health insurance mandate, down from 54% in early summer.”

Fox News host Bill Hemmer suggested that the conservative network was trying to build support for the repeal of the Affordable Care Act in an interview this morning with Rep. Steve King (R-IA). During a segment about the public’s waning enthusiasm for eliminating the law, King expressed concern that Americans were “making accommodations” to the measure since lawmakers are no longer publicly calling for its repeal. Hemmer seemed to agree, telling King that he is appearing on the program to boost support for ending reform:

KING: If we’re not in the news, if we’re not pushing to repeal Obamacare, it doesn’t drive the discussion in the public and the public just begins to move away from it, think okay, the Congress must think it’s impossible. That’s part of what’s going on here.

HEMMER: To be frank and that’s part of the reason why you came on our program today. But I think here is the critical point that Republicans are concerned with. This number [for repeal] is down from only two weeks ago, when it was at 56 percent and a lot of people thought that as long as the system works its way into the blood stream of the American people, that it would be accepted over time. Do you fear that, do you see that happening? [...] Just to be clear on this, back to the question. The longer it’s out there, the more accepting it becomes? That’s what you believe?

Watch it:

Unfortunately, Hemmer has a history of shilling for the Republican party. In 2010, Hemmer asked Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) about the GOP’s prospects in that year’s midterm elections and in formulating his question, betrayed his allegiance to the GOP. “As you evaluate things right now, some five a half months out, I mean, where do we stand,” Hemmer asked. “How strong a position are Republicans?”

A new Rasmussen poll out today finds that “support for repeal is at its lowest level since May, with only 41 percent of respondents saying they “Strongly Favor it.” Sixty-seven percent either strongly oppose repeal or somewhat oppose it. A Bloomberg National poll from last month also showed that support for repealing the Affordable Care Act is declining, “with just 34 percent of the country now favoring repeal of President Barack Obama’s health-care overhaul, down from 41 percent six months ago.”