32% Think Americans Are Too Stupid to Understand Obamacare

One-out-of-three voters agree that Americans are too dumb to comprehend the new national health care law.

Jonathan Gruber, a key architect of the law, has been caught on video saying the law was deliberately written in a confusing way so “stupid” American voters wouldn’t understand the real cost to them and thus would be less likely to oppose it.

Thirty-two percent (32%) of Likely U.S. Voters agree that the American people are too stupid to understand the true costs associated with Obamacare, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone poll. Just 52% disagree and another 16% are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Among voters who favor the health care law, only 18% think Americans are too stupid to understand the actual costs associated with the law. Those who oppose the law, however, by a 46% to 42% margin do think the American people are that stupid.

Most voters have said in regular surveys since the law was passed by Congress in March 2010 that it will increase the cost of health care in America and that it is likely to cost more than its supporters have projected. This helps explain why most voters continue to view the health care law unfavorably.

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls).  Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.

The survey of 1,000 Likely U.S. Voters was conducted on November 12-13, 2014 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Voters are now evenly divided over whether to repeal the health care law entirely or fix it piece-by-piece.

Many members of Congress apparently didn’t read the 2,700-page health care bill before voting for it since they have subsequently expressed surprise about some of the things in it. The Obama administration has delayed the implementation of some parts of the law because of unanticipated problems. But as then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi famously said in early 2010, “… We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy.”

Sixty-two percent (62%) of Democrats and voters not affiliated with either major party by a 47% to 33% margin say the American people are not too stupid to understand the actual costs associated with Obamacare. Republicans are evenly divided on the question.

Men and those under 40 are more likely than women and older voters to believe Americans are that dumb.

Ninety percent (90%) of all likely voters think voters in countries with democratically elected governments have a responsibility to be informed about major policy issues, but only nine percent (9%) feel most Americans are informed voters.

Nearly one-out-of-three likely voters (31%) are not sure how their congressional representative voted on the health care law, even though not one single Republican voted for it and nearly all Democrats did.

While much was made in the media of a likely Republican takeover of the Senate in last week’s elections, only 63% of voters were aware prior to Election Day that Democrats run the Senate and Republicans control the House of Representatives.

Additional information from this survey and a full demographic breakdown are available to Platinum Members only.

Please sign up for the Rasmussen Reports daily e-mail update (it's free) or follow us on Twitter or Facebook. Let us keep you up to date with the latest public opinion news.