The results of a poll dealing with the Affordable Care Act, often referred to as Obamacare, aren’t startling.

That nearly six in 10 Americans say they still don’t know how the law will affect them is understandable, considering the scope of the law and that many of the law’s major benefits won’t go into effect until 2014.

An article about the poll, conducted by the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation, was printed in Thursday’s Butler Eagle.

There’s no basis for alarm about the lack of understanding at this time, but Americans should be trying harder to learn the truth about the law.

Even many of the four in 10 people who express understanding about the law’s provisions lack a specific understanding of many of the details. That’s consistent with the fact that many or most lawmakers who voted for or against the health care bill didn’t really have a full understanding of it when they voted.

Predictably, the Kaiser poll found strong support for the law’s provision prohibiting insurance companies from denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions. Likewise, there was support for new federal government subsidies that will be available for millions of low- and moderate-income Americans to help them buy coverage.

There was 80 percent backing for parts of the law that close a gap in Medicare drug coverage for seniors and that offer tax credits to small businesses to help them provide coverage to their workers.

It’s wasn’t surprising that the poll found Americans still deeply divided from a partisan standpoint. Fifty-eight percent of Democrats support it, but only 18 percent of Republicans.

That finding is consistent with the heated health care debate that occurred leading up to the law’s passage, as well as Republicans’ often-stated hope of repealing the law, which essentially died with President Barack Obama’s re-election last year.

Barring some drastic, unforeseen turnabout, Obamacare is here to stay and Americans should strive to become more informed about it. Refusing to learn about it isn’t going to make it go away.