When the Supreme Court handed down its ruling on the challenge to Obamacare's federal subsidies in a 6-3 decision, it was immediately hailed and criticized from those on opposite ends of the political spectrum. Conservatives blasted the ruling as judicial activism on behalf of the Obama administration, while liberals cheered the move to protect those 7 million people in the system.
Up until now, the debate has been framed in a highly-politicized way, with 2016 Republican candidates pledging to continue to repeal and replace Obamacare once President Obama is out of office in January 2017. But how do everyday Americans feel about this landmark ruling, and what it means for their lives?
According to a new poll released earlier this week by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation, a full majority of Americans support the Supreme Court's ruling. Overall, 62 percent of those surveyed back the justices, while 32 percent believe the decision should have gone the other way. As expected, support and disapproval broke heavily along party line.
Among independents, however, those results tended to mirror the national average. Sixty-one percent of independents believe the Supreme Court ruled correctly, while 34 percent disagreed. The poll has a sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.
The case that was before the Supreme Court was whether or not the federal government was legally allowed to offer federal health care subsidies in states that had not set up their own insurance markets under Obamacare. Opponents of the law argued no, but the Supreme Court disagreed 6-3.
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