Poll: Americans confused about new health law

USA Today: "More than half of the nation is confused about President Obama's recently enacted health care law and 56% of Americans say they don't have enough information to understand how the measure will affect them, according to a poll released today by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation." This survey, the first done by Kaiser since the health bill was approved last month, "found that eight in 10 Americans know that Obama signed the measure but that 55% said the word "confused" described their feelings about the law. Most Americans -- just over one-third -- named cable news as their top source for information on the law." The poll was conducted April 9-14 and has a margin of error of +/- 3 percentage points (Fritze, 4/22).

Politico: A month after the measure gained final approval, "the public remains deeply split over the legislation." Part of the American public's division is demonstrated in responses that "31 percent expect the bill to help them, 32 percent expect the bill to hurt them and 30 percent don't expect it to affect them at all. ... The poll showed, however, that a clear majority of Americans support many specific provisions that go into effect this year. For example: 86 percent are in favor of tax breaks for small businesses that offer coverage to their employees" (Alberta, 4/22).