Forty-six percent of Americans think that the Affordable Care Act will hurt the national economy, and only 37 percent think that it will help, Gallup reports.
Belief in whether or not the law will hurt the economy is largely split along partisan lines.
Seventy-eight percent of Republicans believe the law will hurt the economy while only 13 percent say it will help. Among Democrats, 62 percent believe it will help the economy and 20 percent think it will hurt the economy.
More independents believe the law will hurt the economy than help it, with 47 percent saying it will hurt the national economy and 34 percent saying it will help.
Independents are a key group to win over in the election this November as they make up the largest slice of the electorate.
According to the Pew Research Center, 38 percent of Americans identify themselves as independents, more than the 32 percent of Americans identifying as Democrats and the 24 percent identifying with the GOP.
Most people still consider the economy to be the biggest problem facing this country. A June CNN/ORC Poll showed that 52 percent of Americans see the economy as the most important issue. The second most important issue was the federal budget deficit at 18 percent, and health care ranked third at 14 percent.
A Gallup poll showed that even fewer Americans see health care as the most important problem facing the country, with only six percent of Americans naming health care as the most important problem, while 31 percent said the economy and 25 percent cited unemployment.
Forty-six percent of the electorate believing the health care law will hurt the economy could be a drag on Obama’s re-election bid.
However, Americans’ views are sharply divided on whether GOP candidate Mitt Romney or Obama would be better at managing the economy. A recent CNN/ORC poll showed that 48 percent of voters believe that Romney would be a better manager of the economy and 47 percent believe Obama would be.
A June AP-GfK poll also showed a close divide, with 46 percent of respondents suggesting that Obama would do a better job handling the economy and 45 percent saying Romney would.
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