Americans Divided on Health Care Law

A new poll by Rasmussen Reports shows Americans are divided on whether their state should have its own health care exchange, but nearly half of voters want their governor to oppose President Obama's health care law.

The poll found that 40 percent of likely U.S. voters want their governor to support implementation of the health care law in their state, but nearly half -- 48 percent -- instead want their governor to oppose implementation. Support for implementation of the health care law is down a point from the previous survey conducted in June.

Voters are nearly split on whether they would like to see their state set up its own health care exchange to sell insurance as provided under the health care law. Forty-three percent of voters say they'd like to see their state set up such an exchange, but 39 percent say they are opposed.

Health care exchanges would allow uninsured individuals to buy federal government-standardized insurance plans which in many cases are partially paid for by government subsidies. New customers can begin enrolling Oct. 1, and 16 states and the District of Columbia have decided to have their own insurance exchanges. Seven states will operate one in partnership with the federal government, while 27 states have opted not to create exchanges and will instead have their residents rely on an exchange run by the federal government.

The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted Aug. 3-4. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95 percent level of confidence.