A majority of voters say that Democrats’ signature health reform law is a tax hike, according to a national poll from Quinnipiac University released on Thursday.
More than half of those polled, 55 percent, say that the law is a tax increase, while 36 percent say it is not.
The Supreme Court in June ruled that the law’s insurance requirement was constitutional under Congress’s taxing power. Since then, Republicans have hammered home the point that the law increases Americans’ taxes, although Democrats have argued that it is more accurately a penalty.
While most voters see the Affordable Care Act as a tax, they are closely split over the Supreme Court's decision upholding the law. Forty-eight percent of voters agree with the Court's ruling, and 45 percent disagree. Voters are more certain that Congress should repeal the law, with 49 percent backing repeal and 43 percent opposed.
“President Barack Obama has worked mightily to avoid the ‘T’ word, but most American voters say the ACA is in effect a tax hike,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, in a statement.
“The big question is whether the Republicans can sell the idea to voters that the president’s Affordable Care Act breaks his promise not to raise taxes on those who make less than $250,000. That’s why what voters believe on this issue matters.”
The poll surveyed 2,722 registered voters from July 1-8, with a margin of error of plus or minus 1.9 percentage points.
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