Health Care Remains Deeply Divisive: ABC/Washington Post Poll

Americans remain split on nearly every facet of health care reform, from whether they support president's signature law to which presidential candidate would best manage the issue, according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll released Tuesday morning.

The divide over the health care law itself was dead even, with 47 percent supporting it and 47 opposing it, a rise in support since April, when 39 percent supported the law and 53 percent opposed it. Opinions on the Supreme Court's recent ruling upholding the law were similarly split, with 42 percent approving and 44 percent disapproving.

Even the law's opponents were in disagreement on the best approach to take, with roughly a third each advocating full or partial repeal, and another third in favor of waiting to take action.

President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney won virtually equal approval on health care issues, with 46 percent of people saying they trusted Obama to do a better job on health care policy, and 45 percent trusting Romney more.

Asked how important various issues would be in their vote for president, 77 percent of people surveyed said health care policy would be important, second only to the economy.

The results fall in line with other recent polling on health care, including an earlier ABC/Washington Post poll, all of which found that Americans remain evenly split, largely across party lines.

HuffPost Pollster's charts, which track all available polling on the issue, show opinion closely divided, with 40 percent in favor of the law and 47 percent opposed.

The ABC News/Washington Post poll was conducted between July 5 and 8, using live telephone interviews to survey 1,003 adults, including 855 registered voters. The margin of error was 4 percent.